NCJ Number
175997
Date Published
1994
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on alcohol- and drug- related (ADR) visits to hospital emergency departments obtained from the 1992 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
Abstract
The target universe of NHAMCS includes visits made in the United States by patients to emergency departments (EDs) and outpatient departments (OPDs) of non-Federal, short-stay, or general hospitals. For this report, the 4.1 million ADR ED visits are defined by identifying and combining 3,782,000 visits that indicated alcohol and/or drug problems and 340,000 visits that indicated specific ADR diagnoses. The data show that half of all ADR ED visits were made by patients 25-44 years old. Males had higher rates of ADR ED visits; the highest rates were for black males 25-44 years old. An injury was three times as likely to be classified as "homicide and injury purposely inflicted" in an ADR ED visit compared with all other ED visits. Seventy-six percent of ED visits for suicide and self-inflicted injuries were alcohol and drug related. A quarter of the ADR ED visits were for reasons of symptoms referable to psychological/mental disorders (i.e., depression and neurotic disorders). The treatment and detoxification of patients exposed to alcohol or poison were accomplished with several procedures and/or agents. The most frequently used were gastric lavage, metabolic and nutrient agents to correct complications such as prolonged malnutrition (e.g., thiamine), and adsorption of the toxin on activated charcoal. 17 tables, 4 figures, and 5 references