[Prevalence of drug abuse in patients receiving care in adult emergency].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the association between patient admission due to trauma and the consumption of marihuana, cocaine and bazooka (basic cocaine paste) at the Central Hospital of Valencia, Venezuela.


METHODS
148 subjects were studied who had entered the emergency room due to lesions caused by aggression (AL), traffic accidents (TA), work-related accidents (WRA), self-inflicted injury (SII) and intoxication (INT). A questionnaire was applied and toxicology analyses performed.


RESULTS
Drug consumption, alone or in combination, was found in 23.6% of individuals (13.5% cocaine, 7.4% marihuana and 2.7% both). Of the cocaine positive, 50% entered for AL, 20% for INT, 10% for SII, 5% for WRA and 15% for other causes. Of the marihuana positive, 36.4% entered for TA, followed by 27.3% for WRA, 18.18% for AL, 9.09% for INT and 9.09% for other causes. For combined drug consumption, entries for AL were 75% and for WRA, 25%. Alcohol consumption associated to cocaine was 50%, to marihuana, 9% and to combined drugs, 25%.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that one of every four hospital admissions for trauma is associated to drug abuse, alone or in combination. This reveals a close cause-effect relationship between the use of psychoactive drugs and trauma.
Centro de Investigaciones Toxicológicas, Universidad de Carabobo (CITUC), Valencia, Venezuela.
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S
Piñero-De Fuentes
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Medina-Orozco
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Rojas
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*