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   Drug Overdose Sending More Americans to the ED   
      
      
   Megan Brooks   
   April 09, 2015   
       
   Drug overdoses send more than 1 million Americans to the emergency department   
   (ED) each year, and the number is rising, according to a new data brief from   
   the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health   
   Statistics (NCHS).   
      
   A substantial portion of drug-poisoning visits involve analgesics,   
   antipyretics, and antirheumatics, as well as sedatives, hypnotics,   
   tranquilizers, and other psychotropic agents.   
      
   "Poisoning is the leading cause of injury-related mortality in the United   
   States, with more than 40,000 deaths annually. Drugs account for 90% of   
   poisoning deaths, and the number of deaths from drug poisoning has increased   
   substantially in recent years,"    
   Michael Albert, MD, MPH, and colleagues from the NCHS note in their article.   
      
   Their review of data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey   
   found that for the period 2008-2011, an annual average of 1.1 million ED   
   visits were made for drug poisoning, corresponding to an overall visit rate of   
   35.4 per 10,000 persons,   
    they report.   
      
   The highest visit rate was observed for persons aged 20 to 34 years. This age   
   group showed a statistically significant increase from 36.3 per 10,000 in   
   2004-2007 to 53.9 per 10,000 in 2008- 2011.   
      
   The ED visit rate for drug poisoning was similar in men and women, with the   
   exception of individuals aged 35 to 49 years, for whom women had higher rates   
   than men (51.2 vs 31.9 per 10,000).   
      
   The ED visit rate was highest for unintentional drug poisoning (17.0 per   
   10,000), followed by self-inflicted drug poisoning (13.4 per 10,000) and drug   
   poisoning of undetermined intent (5.0 per 10,000). Women had a higher ED visit   
   rate for self-inflicted    
   drug poisoning than men (16.4 vs 10.2 per 10,000).   
      
   For both unintentional and self-inflicted drug-poisoning ED visits, about one   
   half of visits resulted from poisoning by drugs in the categories of   
   analgesics, antipyretics, and antirheumatics; and sedatives, hypnotics,   
   tranquilizers, and other    
   psychotropic agents. Analgesics that were specifically opiates or   
   opiate-related narcotics, including heroin and methadone, accounted for 14.0%   
   of ED visits for unintentional drug poisoning.   
      
   Overall, nearly one quarter (24.5%) of trips to the ED for drug poisoning   
   resulted in hospital admission, "which was higher compared with other ED   
   visits (12.7%)," the researchers say.   
      
   "Although visits for drug poisoning made up a small percentage of overall ED   
   visits, they tended to be more serious, resulting in more frequent   
   hospitalization," Dr Albert and colleagues point out.   
      
   "Preventing increases in both poisoning deaths and nonfatal poisonings are   
   Healthy People 2020 objectives. This report examining national data on ED   
   visits for drug poisoning can help inform injury-prevention efforts to meet   
   these objectives," they    
   conclude.   
      
   NCHS Data Brief 198. Full text   
      
       
   8 comments   
      
      
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   Cite this article: Drug Overdose Sending More Americans to the ED. Medscape.   
   Apr 09, 2015.   
      
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