Casualty departments and the monitoring of drug dependence.
In a month-long prospective survey of patients attending London casualty departments with drug-related problems, 395 drug-dependent patients were identified. A check against the official Home Office index of notified addicts showed that 226 (57%) were not known to the Home Office. Of 92 patients who used narcotics only 53% were known with certainty to the Home Office, and when the source of notification was checked it became clear that in at least 77% of incidents involving narcotic addicts in casualty departments the addict was not reported. Repeated research in casualty departments could play a valuable role in monitoring drug dependence and might provide information supplementary to that obtained from the specialised drug treatment clinics and other sources of notification.
D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D008131:London; D008499:Medical Records; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*