@article{ref1,
title="Toxicological analysis in agitated patients",
journal="Intensive care medicine",
year="1999",
author="Moritz, F. and Goullé, Jean-Pierre and Girault, C. and Clarot, F. and Droy, J. M. and Muller, J. M.",
volume="25",
number="8",
pages="852-854",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To assess the toxicological etiologies in agitated patients and to evaluate their initial clinical diagnosis in the light of toxicological results analysis. DESIGN: Prospective clinical study. SETTING: Emergency Department (ED) in a 2,650-bed University Hospital. PATIENTS: Fifty-eight consecutively enrolled patients admitted to the ED in agitated states over a 6-month period. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: All patients underwent laboratory tests including blood glucose, ethanol and serum drug screening. Toxicology tests were conducted by fluorescence polarization immunoassay and confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography/diode array detector and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The physician's initial diagnosis was evaluated in the light of toxicological analysis results. Serum toxicological analysis revealed that 50/58 patients were under the influence of alcohol and/or a drug. Benzodiazepines (22/58), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (5/58) and opiates (4/58) were the most frequently observed. The initial clinical diagnosis was alcohol intoxication in 39 patients, although 1 patient was not under the influence of alcohol and 16 also had benzodiazepine in their sera. Moreover, the diagnosis of serotonin syndrome was overlooked in two patients. CONCLUSION: Most agitated patients were under the influence of alcohol and/or a drug. Benzodiazepine alone or in association with alcohol was surprisingly frequent. A serotonin syndrome may explain the agitation state.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0342-4642",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}