Drug
Abuse Warning Network, 2005: National Estimates of Drug-Related
Emergency Department Visits
Highlights:
- SAMHSA's
Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) provides national data on emergency
department visits involving illicit drugs, alcohol, and nonmedical use
of pharmaceuticals. In 2005, general non-Federal hospitals delivered
108 million emergency department visits. An estimated 1,449,154 of these
emergency visits were associated with drug misuse or abuse.
- Over
half (56%) of all drug misuse or drug abuse emergency department visits
involved an illicit drug either alone or in combination with another
drug type: Cocaine was involved in 448,481 visits; marijuana in 242,200
visits; heroin in 164,572 visits, and stimulants (including amphetamines
and methamphetamines) were involved in 138,950 emergency department
visits.
- Data on alcohol alone is collected only on patients
under age 21. DAWN estimates there were 56,978 alcohol-related emergency
department visits for patients aged 12 to 17 and 88,781 alcohol-related
emergency department visits for patients aged 18 to 20.
- Alcohol in combination with another drug is
collected on all patients regardless of age. Alcohol-related
emergency department visits accounted for 34% of all drug misuse or
drug abuse emergency department visits. Alcohol was most frequently
combined with cocaine alone (86,482 visits), marijuana alone (33,643
visits), cocaine and marijuana (22,377 visits), and heroin alone (12,797
visits).
- DAWN
estimates that 598,542 emergency department visits involved nonmedical
use of prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals or dietary
supplements. Opiates/opioid analgesics accounted for 33% of the nonmedical
visits and included: Hydrocodone/combinations (51,225 visits), Oxycodone/combinations
(42,810 visits), methadone (41,216 visits), and fentanyl/combinations
(9,160 visits). Anti-anxiety agents (sedatives and hypnotics) accounted
for 34% of the nonmedical visits and included benzodiazepines (172,388
visits).
Data
on other specific drugs
Other
topics
Other
OAS publications and services
This annual report, Drug
Abuse Warning Network, 2005: National Estimates of Drug-Related
Emergency Department Visits,
is based on the Drug Abuse Warning
Network (DAWN), the primary source of national data on drug related
emergency department visits. DAWN is conducted by the Office
of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA).
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