# Leveraging Psychological Autopsies to Accelerate Research into Stimulant Overdose Mortality

> **NIH ALLCDC R01** · PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION ENTERPRISES · 2023 · $362,432

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Drug poisoning (aka “overdose”) is a complex construct, particularly for stimulants. While opioid overdose is
generally caused by respiratory depression, stimulant overdose is multi-faceted. Non-fatal events are likely
driven by cardiac and psychiatric complaints. However, fatal events are less well understood. Psychological
autopsies have been shown to be immensely valuable in understanding opioid overdose deaths, identifying
many of the key elements of overdose that still drive overdose prevention efforts today, and we propose to
leverage that mechanism to accelerate our understanding of and response to stimulant overdose mortality. For
example, cardiac disease has previously been identified as more common among stimulant overdose
decedents than heroin overdose or suicide-by-hanging. However, the majority of stimulant overdose deaths
lack an additional medical explanation. With psychological autopsies, we can leverage not just medical
examiner data, but also medical records and informant interviews to identify cardiac disease and complaints
antecedent to death. This approach, responsive to Objective 2 of the RFA, also allows for a detailed
understanding of the intent of overdose (i.e. suicidality), as well as an opportunity to determine the
intentionality of fentanyl use in stimulant/fentanyl overdose events. We will identify 100 stimulant overdose
decedents (divided among cocaine, methamphetamine, and cocaine or methamphetamine with fentanyl),
conduct informant interviews (including scales and qualitative data), and gather data from the post mortem
investigation (e.g., vital records, toxicology, autopsy, case narrative, death scene photographs) and medical
record abstraction. Subsequently, we will conduct qualitative interviews with 40-60 living people who use
stimulants (half MA, half cocaine) to explore elements of resilience and risk reduction strategies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10664991
- **Project number:** 5R01CE003364-03
- **Recipient organization:** PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION ENTERPRISES
- **Principal Investigator:** PHILLIP O COFFIN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $362,432
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2024-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10664991

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10664991, Leveraging Psychological Autopsies to Accelerate Research into Stimulant Overdose Mortality (5R01CE003364-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10664991. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*