Journal of Forensic Research

Lotte Markussen Lang

Publications

• Research Article
  Postmortem Urinary Cortisol Levels in Relation to the Cause of Death
  Author(s): Lotte Markussen Lang and Kristian LinnetLotte Markussen Lang and Kristian Linnet
  
  In 239 postmortem cases, we used liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry to measure urinary cortisol concentrations standardized to creatinine, which were then related to causes of death. For comparison, we also analyzed urine samples from 95 living subjects implicated in criminal cases. The median of the postmortem group (18.8 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine) was not significantly different from that of the living group (18.1 μmol cortisol/ mol creatinine), but the highest value in the postmortem group was more than ten times higher than that in the living group (3730 versus 354 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine). Among the postmortem cases, 28% had values exceeding the previously reported upper 95% range for normal living subjects (52.8 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine), as did 12%of the living group. The postmortem cases were divided into subgroups a.. Read More»
  DOI: 10.4172/2157-7145.1000189

  Abstract PDF