[The characteristics of opiate users seen in an emergency service].
BACKGROUND
Despite of the fact that it was reported for years that emergency rooms are the first health services where drug users attend, there are very few direct studies of this population. In most emergency room studies, the information was obtained from data available in the clinical records, and in very few drug users were interviewed. With the aim of having a deeper knowledge of opiate users who attend the emergency room it was planned to carry out a cross-sectional study interviewing them. The aims of this paper are to describe demographic characteristics, patterns of drug use and to know whether they contact first to an emergency room or to a treatment centre.


METHODS
The sample included all patients detected and referred by the doctor as being current opiate users, defined as any use in the 30 days prior the interview. A descriptive bivariate analysis with simple stratification was carried out.


RESULTS
Of the subjects referred by the doctor 383 opiate users were interviewed and 76 were not interviewed. The male/female ratio for the 383 interviewed opiates users was 2. Women were younger than men (25.8 vs 28.3, p (3/4) 0.001). Heroin or cocaine ever injected was reported by 93% and 76% reported injecting in the last 30 days. The mean age at the first use of heroin was higher for those who started use during 1989 or after (21.6) than those who started before 1989 (17.9) (p (3/4) 0.0001). Patients attending the emergency room for organic pathology were older (28.5) than those who attended for withdrawal (26.2) and those who attended for overdose (27.3) (p (3/4) 0.05). Thirty eight percent reported to attend first an emergency room for a drug related problem since they started drug use, and 47% to contact first with a treatment centre for drug dependence.


CONCLUSIONS
Drug users interviewed seem to be more heavy users than those who started drug treatment in the public centres of Barcelona in 1992. Also, the hypothesis that emergency rooms are for this population the first contact point with health services is not supported by this study.
Pérez González
K
K
Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica, Barcelona, 08003, España.
Domingo-Salvany
A
A
Hartnoll
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D008691:Methadone