@article{ref1,
title="Emergency visits for prescription opioid poisonings",
journal="Journal of emergency medicine",
year="2015",
author="Tadros, Allison and Layman, Shelley M. and Davis, Stephen M. and Davidov, Danielle M. and Cimino, Scott",
volume="49",
number="6",
pages="871-877",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Prescription opioid abuse and overdose has steadily increased in the United States (US) over the past two decades, and current research has shown a dramatic increase in hospitalizations resulting from opioid poisonings. Still, much is unknown about the clinical and demographic features of patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) for poisoning from prescription drugs. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate ED visits by adults for prescription opioids. <br><br>METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study utilizing 2006-2011 data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample. Total number of admissions (weighted), disposition, gender, age, expected payer, income, geographic region, charges, and procedures performed were examined. <br><br>RESULTS: From 2006 through 2010, there were 259,093 ED visits by adults for poisoning by opioids, and 53.50% of these were unintentional. The overall mean age of patients was 45.5 years, with more visits made by females (52.37%). Patients who unintentionally overdosed were more likely to have Medicare (36.54%), whereas those who intentionally overdosed had private insurance (29.41%). The majority of patients resided in the South (40.93%) and came from lower-income neighborhoods. Approximately 108,504 patients were discharged, and 140,395 were admitted. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: There were over 250,000 visits to US EDs from 2006 through 2011 with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by a prescription opioid. Females made the majority of visits, and over half were admitted to the hospital, resulting in over $4 billion in charges. Future studies should examine preventative measures, optimal screening, and intervention programs for these patients.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0736-4679",
doi="10.1016/j.jemermed.2015.06.035",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2015.06.035"
}