Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 May;56(5):639-647.
doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.12.009. Epub 2019 Mar 6.

U.S. Emergency Department Visits Resulting From Nonmedical Use of Pharmaceuticals, 2016

Andrew I Geller  1 , Deborah Dowell  2 , Maribeth C Lovegrove  1 , Jana K McAninch  3 , Sandra K Goring  1 , Kathleen O Rose  1 , Nina J Weidle  1 , Daniel S Budnitz  4
Affiliations

U.S. Emergency Department Visits Resulting From Nonmedical Use of Pharmaceuticals, 2016

Andrew I Geller et al. Am J Prev Med. 2019 May.

Abstract

Introduction: National data on morbidity from nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals are limited. This study used nationally representative, public health surveillance data to characterize U.S. emergency department visits for acute harms from nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals and to guide prevention efforts.

Methods: Data collected in 2016 from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project were analyzed in 2018 to calculate national estimates of emergency department visits for harms from nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals.

Results: Based on 5,130 surveillance cases, there were an estimated 358,247 emergency department visits (95% CI=280,675, 435,819) in 2016 for harms from nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals and 41.1% resulted in hospitalization (95% CI=32.3%, 49.8%). One half (50.9%, 95% CI=46.6%, 55.3%) of estimated visits involved patients aged ≤34 years; more than one half of estimated visits also involved non-pharmaceutical substances (52.9%, 95% CI=49.7%, 56.1%), including illicit drugs in 34.1% (95% CI=30.9%, 37.2%) and alcohol in 21.8% (95% CI=19.8%, 23.9%). Overall, benzodiazepines were implicated in 46.9% (95% CI=42.5%, 51.2%) of estimated emergency department visits for nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals but were the only substance implicated in just 6.5% (95% CI=5.1%, 7.9%). Prescription opioids were implicated in 36.2% (95% CI=30.8%, 41.7%) of estimated emergency department visits and were the only substance implicated in 11.3% (95% CI=8.6%, 14.0%).

Conclusions: Although prescription opioids or benzodiazepines are frequently implicated in emergency department visits for nonmedical use, because other substances and additional pharmaceuticals are most often involved, prescribing clinicians should consider implementing specific screening to address polysubstance use and, when warranted, treatment interventions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Substances involved in emergency department visits due to nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals, 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. HHS, NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research Report: Misuse of Prescription Drugs www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/misuse-prescription-drug.... Updated January 2018. Accessed June 3, 2018.
    1. HHS, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Assessment of abuse potential of drugs - guidance for industry www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/guid.... Updated January 2018. Accessed June 4, 2018.
    1. Paulozzi LJ, Budnitz DS, Xi Y. Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2006;15(9):618–627. 10.1002/pds.1276. - DOI - PubMed
    1. HHS. HHS Acting Secretary Declares Public Health Emergency to Address National Opioid Crisis [press release] www.hhs.gov/about/news/2017/10/26/hhs-acting-secretary-declares-public-h.... Published 2017. Updated April 24, 2018. Accessed December 16, 2018.
    1. HHS, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. Multiple Cause of Death 1999–2016 on CDC WONDER Online Database http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html. Updated December 2017. Accessed March 30, 2018.

Publication types

MeSH terms