The impact and risk factors of recreational drug poisoning in patients admitted to the emergency room of Bab El Oued

Abstract

Recreational drug refers to the use of drugs that are not intended for medical reasons but for its psychoactive nature and leisure. In the Middle East and worldwide, drug abuse is a growing problem for authorities Materials and methods: We carried out a descriptive and analytic cohort study. We included all cases aged over 16 years presented to the emergency department (SU) of the Lamine Debaghine-Bab El Oued University hospital, between November 2020 to October 2021 presenting acute toxicity due to self-reported recreational drug use or exhibiting symptoms/signs consistent with acute toxicity. Furthermore, we carried out a multivariate analysis by logistic regression to eliminate all confounding factors around the risk of morbidity and mortality of poisoned patients. Results: The mean age was 18-year-old. they are mostly due to prescription medicine.50.7% of the cases are dual consumptions of leisure drugs. 51% stayed more than 13h. Starting from the initial model (Table 01), the explanatory variables which remained significant in the final model illustrated as follows: Signs of cardiac collapse or decompensation significantly increased the risk of hospitalization and intensive care unit admission. They multiplied the risk by 2.5: ORa= 2.5 (1.1 – 5.81) CI 95% Discussion: We highlighted that drug abuse started at a really young age in our population. we noticed a preponderance of dual and medicinal drugs, a longer duration of hospitalization and a significantly increased risk of cardiac events Conclusion: We could relate the pretty young age and duration of stay to the lake of awareness, social level and the accessibility to prescription medicine for a leisure purpose