Presentations to an urban emergency department in Bern, Switzerland associated with acute recreational drug toxicity.

Liakoni, Evangelia; Müller, Sabine; Stoller, Adrian; Ricklin, Meret; Liechti, Matthias E; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis (2017). Presentations to an urban emergency department in Bern, Switzerland associated with acute recreational drug toxicity. Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 25(1), p. 26. BioMed Central 10.1186/s13049-017-0369-x

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BACKGROUND

Although the recreational use of psychoactive substances is common there is only limited systematic collection of data on acute drug toxicity or hospital presentations. Currently, data from Switzerland are only available from the University Hospital of Basel. The present study aimed to describe the presentations due to recreational drug use at an emergency department in Bern, Switzerland during a 4 year period.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of cases presenting from May 2012 to April 2016 at the emergency department of the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland, with symptoms/signs consistent with acute toxicity of recreational drug use. The cases were retrieved using a comprehensive full-text search algorithm of the electronic health records. Isolated ethanol intoxications were excluded.

RESULTS

During the study period, 503 of the 157,328 emergency department attendances were directly related to acute toxicity of substances used recreationally. The mean patient age was 33 years (range 16-74), 68% were male. Alcohol co-ingestion was reported in 54% of the cases, and use of more than one recreational drug in 37% of the cases. Most presentations were related to cocaine (29%), cannabis (26%), heroin (20%) and benzodiazepines/sedatives (18%). Urine drug screening immunoassay was available in 277 cases (55%). The most frequently detected substances were cannabis (29%), cocaine (22%), benzodiazepines (21%) and opioids excluding methadone (20%). There were only two intoxications with novel psychoactive substances (NPSs): One with methylone and one with 2,5-dimethoxy-4(n)-propylphenethylamine (2C-P). The majority of patients (58%) displayed impaired consciousness (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) <15) upon presentation and/or pre-hospital; 21% were unconscious (GCS <8). Other frequent symptoms were agitation (36%), tachycardia (29%), and anxiety (24%). Severe complications included two fatalities, three acute myocardial infarctions, two intracranial haemorrhages, as well as psychosis and seizures in 71 and 26 cases, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Most medical problems related to recreational drug use were associated with cocaine and cannabis use and were mainly characterised by central nervous system depression, sympathomimetic toxicity and/or psychiatric disorders. Presentations related to acute toxicities of NPSs appear to be uncommon, while prescription drugs were after classical recreational drugs the substances most commonly reported.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Dermatology, Urology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Osteoporosis (DURN) > Clinic of Nephrology and Hypertension
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of General Internal Medicine (DAIM) > Clinic of General Internal Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Intensive Care, Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesiology (DINA) > University Emergency Center

UniBE Contributor:

Liakoni, Evangelia, Stoller, Adrian, Ricklin, Meret Elisabeth, Exadaktylos, Aristomenis

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1757-7241

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Language:

English

Submitter:

Jacques Donzé

Date Deposited:

03 Apr 2018 13:06

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:30

Publisher DOI:

10.1186/s13049-017-0369-x

PubMed ID:

28264690

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Acute toxicity Emergency room Prescription drug abuse Psychoactive substances Recreational drugs

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.110671

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/110671

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