title: Medical problems related to recreational drug use at nocturnal dance parties.
abstract: During 'I love techno' (edition 2001), an indoor rave party attended by 37 000 people, data about medical problems (especially drug-related problems) were collected. To place these data in a wider perspective, a similar registration was done during 'De Nacht', a traditional New Year's Eve dance party held at the same location and attended by 12 000 people. Furthermore, a prospective study on the time course of the level of consciousness (Glasgow Coma Score) and blood concentrations of illicit drugs, especially gamma-hydroxybutyrate was set up. The results revealed that during 'I love techno' the incidence of medical problems was high (66.5/10 000 attendees), but not higher than during 'De Nacht' (70.0/10 000 attendees). At 'I love techno', however, mainly illicit drugs were used, more frequently leading to severe drug-related medical problems. The observations in patients with a drug-related medical problem who had taken gamma-hydroxybutyrate showed that for a given level of consciousness the gamma-hydroxybutyrate concentrations may show important differences, that the transition from coma (Glasgow Coma Score < or =7) to full recovery (Glasgow Coma Score 15) takes only 30-60 min (and only a small decrease in gamma-hydroxybutyrate concentrations), and that the time it takes before a comatose patient reaches the above-mentioned 'transition area' may be a few hours.
authors.affiliation: Heymans Institute for Pharmacology, University of Ghent, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Diederik K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Van Sassenbroeck
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Calle
authors.forename: Filip M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.forename: Alain G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Verstraete
authors.forename: Frans M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Belpaire
authors.forename: Koenraad G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Monsieurs
authors.forename: Raoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haentjens
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allonsius
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Brantegem
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haenen
authors.forename: Walter A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Buylaert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D003128:Coma / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003615:Dancing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012978:Sodium Oxybate / Q000009:adverse effects; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D012978:Sodium Oxybate