A Systematic Review of Materials Used in Sexual Violence against Women
Subject Areas : Journal of Chemical Health RisksAzadeh Memarian 1 , Kamran Aghakhani 2 , Leyla Abdolkarimi 3 , Maryam Ameri 4 , Siamak Soltani 5 *
1 - Department of Forensic Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran
2 - Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Rasool Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Forensic Medicine, Shahid Ragaei Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Firoozgar Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 - Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Rasool -Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Rape, Rape of women, Drugs, Sexual assault, Drugs used in sexual assault,
Abstract :
Drug-facilitated sexual assaults (DFSA) are crimes that remain largely underrecognized by the public and may not receive sufficient attention from health and legal policymakers. The primary objective of this systematic review was to investigate individuals affected by drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in order to inform the development of effective health and policy strategies. To conduct this study, a comprehensive search was performed for relevant studies published between 2018 and 2021. The search followed PRISMA guidelines and was conducted in internationally recognized databases, including Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. A total of 39 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected for analysis. The findings of the review revealed that the most commonly identified substances involved in DFSA were alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, methamphetamine, and amphetamines. In contrast, traditional drugs were found to be used less frequently by perpetrators. Most hospitals used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for substance identification. Additionally, blood and urine were the most commonly analyzed biological matrices for detecting these substances. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that alcohol and various drugs, including benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, methamphetamine, and amphetamines, were the most frequently associated with drug-facilitated sexual assaults. These results highlight the need for targeted health and policy interventions to raise awareness and mitigate the occurrence of DFSA.
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