Emergency Department Visits by Patients with Substance Use Disorder in the United States

Introduction: We aimed to characterize emergency department (ED) utilization and clinical characteristics of patients with substance use disorder (SUD) seeking emergency care for all reasons.Methods: Using 2016 –2017 ED data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, we investigated demographics, ED resource utilization, and clinical characteristics of patients with SUD vs those without SUD. Results: Of all adult ED visits (N = 27,609) in the US in 2016 –2017, 11.1% of patients had SUD. Among ED patients with SUD, they were mostly non-Hispanic White (62.5%) and were more likely to be male (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.80 confidence interval [CI], 1.66-1.95). Emergency department patients with SUD were also more likely to return to the ED within 72 hours (aOR 1.32, CI, 1.09-1.61) and more likely to be admitted to...
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research