Psychoactive drugs use and - related visits of adolescents to the emergency department

Background and objectives:: To describe psychoactive substances (PS)-related visits of adolescents to the emergency department and to explore possible differential features in patients according to the kind of PS consumed. Patients and methods: Observational and analytic study. PS-related visits of adolescents to the emergency department during 30 months were studied. Patients were divided in two groups: those with alcohol intoxication only (Group_1) and those with other PS (Group_2) and they were compared. Results: 333consults were included, corresponding to 321patients. Their mean age was 16,1years (SD:1,1years). Two hundred sixty-two(78,7%) were alcohol-related visits, and 110(33%) were related with another PS consumption. Of the 262 alcohol-related visits, 223 were only related with alcohol(Group_1), while the other 110visits made up Group_2. Group_2 was composed of more males, more adolescents placed in Institutional Care and more adolescents with psychiatric records than Group.). Likewise, distribution of Group_2 visits was less predictable than distribution of Group_1. Conclusions: PS consumption is a frequent major complaint in an Emergency Department. There are more poly-intoxications in males with psycho-social problems. In those cases, consumption seems to happen regardless of the time in the day or the day of the week. (C) 2009 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.