@article{ref1,
title="Alcohol, drug misuse and suicide attempts: unrecognised causes of out of hospital cardiac arrests admitted to intensive care units",
journal="Irish journal of medical science",
year="2009",
author="McLaughlin, A. M. and Hardt, J. and McKay, A. P. and Fitzpatrick, G. J. and Donnelly, M. B.",
volume="178",
number="1",
pages="29-33",
abstract="AIM: To assess the contribution of alcohol, drug abuse and suicide attempts to out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) who are admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: Retrospective review of all OHCA admitted to the ICU over a 2-year period. RESULTS: There were 26 OHCA. Six patients survived, all of whom had a cardiac aetiology for their arrest. Ten patients arrested due to external factors (drug misuse n = 4, alcohol excess n = 1, suicide attempts n = 4 and accidental choking n = 1). All of the patients who arrested secondary to external factors were young (37.2 +/- 13.58 years), 90% were male and all died in hospital. All of the cases of drug misuse involved cocaine. CONCLUSION: Alcohol, drug misuse and suicide attempts contribute significantly to the number of OHCA which are admitted to ICU. Moreover, cocaine usage has contributed to a number of OHCA in our study. <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0021-1265",
doi="10.1007/s11845-008-0242-z",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11845-008-0242-z"
}