Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study
Introduction: To examine hospitalizations in a cohort of 224 patients who presented with non-fatal heroin overdose to an ED. Methods: A record linkage study, using the morbidity, mental health and mortality databases in the Data Linkage Unit of the Department of Health, Western Australia. The main o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Blackwell Publishing
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14518 |
| _version_ | 1848748644185931776 |
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| author | Fatovich, D. Bartu, Anne Davis, G. Atrie, J. Daly, F. |
| author_facet | Fatovich, D. Bartu, Anne Davis, G. Atrie, J. Daly, F. |
| author_sort | Fatovich, D. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: To examine hospitalizations in a cohort of 224 patients who presented with non-fatal heroin overdose to an ED. Methods: A record linkage study, using the morbidity, mental health and mortality databases in the Data Linkage Unit of the Department of Health, Western Australia. The main outcome measures were hospital separations 5 years before and after entry into the cohort. Results: Before entry into the cohort, 199 (89%) patients had an admission to mental health services. These 199 had a combined total of 1367 separations, most commonly for a mental health condition, injury or poisoning. Women had more than twice the relative risk (RR) of men for all separations (RR 2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.96–2.82, P < 0.001) and for injury and poisoning separations (RR 2.04, 95% CI 1.56–2.66, P < 0.001). The highest concentrations of separations occurred within 1 year before and 1 year after entry into the cohort. There were 12 (5.4%, 95% CI 2.9–9.4%) deaths, most commonly from overdose. Conclusion: Non-fatal heroin overdose ED presentations are associated with a cluster of hospitalizations around that episode, likely to be related to heroin availability. Presentation to hospital by heroin users represents an opportunity to counsel less risky behaviour. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:08:19Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-14518 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:08:19Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Blackwell Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-145182017-09-13T15:54:08Z Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study Fatovich, D. Bartu, Anne Davis, G. Atrie, J. Daly, F. hospitalization emergency department heroin overdose morbidity Introduction: To examine hospitalizations in a cohort of 224 patients who presented with non-fatal heroin overdose to an ED. Methods: A record linkage study, using the morbidity, mental health and mortality databases in the Data Linkage Unit of the Department of Health, Western Australia. The main outcome measures were hospital separations 5 years before and after entry into the cohort. Results: Before entry into the cohort, 199 (89%) patients had an admission to mental health services. These 199 had a combined total of 1367 separations, most commonly for a mental health condition, injury or poisoning. Women had more than twice the relative risk (RR) of men for all separations (RR 2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.96–2.82, P < 0.001) and for injury and poisoning separations (RR 2.04, 95% CI 1.56–2.66, P < 0.001). The highest concentrations of separations occurred within 1 year before and 1 year after entry into the cohort. There were 12 (5.4%, 95% CI 2.9–9.4%) deaths, most commonly from overdose. Conclusion: Non-fatal heroin overdose ED presentations are associated with a cluster of hospitalizations around that episode, likely to be related to heroin availability. Presentation to hospital by heroin users represents an opportunity to counsel less risky behaviour. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14518 10.1111/j.1742-6723.2010.01290.x Blackwell Publishing restricted |
| spellingShingle | hospitalization emergency department heroin overdose morbidity Fatovich, D. Bartu, Anne Davis, G. Atrie, J. Daly, F. Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title | Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title_full | Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title_fullStr | Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title_short | Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: A 10-year record linkage study |
| title_sort | morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: a 10-year record linkage study |
| topic | hospitalization emergency department heroin overdose morbidity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14518 |