Prevalences of and characteristics associated with single- and polydrug-involved U.S. Emergency Department Visits in 2018

The Approach to Altered Mental Status in the Intensive Care Unit

Altered mental status (AMS) is a syndrome posing substantial burden to patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) in both prevalence and intensity. Unfortunately, ICU patients are often diagnosed merely with syndromic labels, particularly the duo of toxic-metabolic encephalopathy (TME) and delirium. Before applying a nonspecific diagnostic label, every patient with AMS should be evaluated for specific, treatable diseases affecting the central nervous system. This review offers a structured approach to increase the probability of identifying specific causal etiologies of AMS in the critically ill. We provide tips for bedside assessment in the challenging ICU environment and review the role and yield of common neurodiagnostic procedures, including specialized bedside modalities of diagnostic utility in unstable patients. We briefly review two common etiologies of TME (uremic and septic encephalopathies), and then review a selection of high-yield toxicologic, neurologic, and infectious causes of AMS in the ICU, with an emphasis on those that require deliberate consideration as they elude routine screening. The final section lays out an approach to the various etiologies of AMS in the critically ill.

Estimating the ratio of fatal to non-fatal overdoses involving all drugs, all opioids, synthetic opioids, heroin or stimulants, USA, 2010-2020

INTRODUCTION

US drug overdose deaths are at historic levels. For every fatal drug overdose, there are many more non-fatal; however, minimal nationally representative data exist on trends in the ratio of fatal to non-fatal drug overdoses and how this differs by drug type.

METHODS

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System were used to assess the number of fatal overdoses; data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database were used to estimate the number of non-fatal overdoses treated in emergency departments. Counts of fatal and non-fatal overdoses by drug type (all drug, all opioid, synthetic opioid, heroin, stimulant, and opioid and stimulant polysubstance) were calculated from 2010 to 2020 (for non-fatal synthetic opioid-involved overdoses, from 2016 to 2020 only). Trends in overdose counts and the ratio of fatal to non-fatal overdoses were assessed.

RESULTS

On average, counts of fatal overdoses increased quarterly among all drug types, and non-fatal overdoses increased among most drug types. Over the 11-year period, the greatest average quarterly percent change (AQPC) in fatal overdose counts was among synthetic opioid-involved overdoses (AQPC: 7.1%; 95% CI: 6.0 to 8.2) and for non-fatal overdoses was among heroin-involved overdoses (AQPC: 4.3%; 95% CI: 3.9 to 4.8). During 2010‒2020, there was approximately 1 fatal overdose per 15 non-fatal. The ratio of fatal to non-fatal drug overdoses increased among every drug type except heroin; ratio increases were driven by greater relative increases in fatal overdoses compared with non-fatal.

CONCLUSIONS

Assessment of the ratio of fatal to non-fatal drug overdoses can be used to understand the lethality of different drugs and inform response and prevention efforts.

A four-way patient search method for the retrospective identification of poisoning patients

When studying emergency department (ED) visits, electronic health record systems of hospitals provide a good basis for retrospective studies. However, many intoxication patients presenting to the ED, may not be identified retrospectively if only a single search method is applied. In this study, a new four-way combined patient search method was used to retrospectively identify intoxication patients presenting to the ED. The search included reason for admission to the ED, laboratory results related to intoxication diagnostics, ICD-10 codes, and a novel free word search (FWS) of patient records. After the automated search, the researcher read the medical records of potential substance abuse patients to form comprehensive profiles and remove irrelevant cases. The addition of a free word search identified 36% more substance abuse patients than the combination of the other three methods mentioned above. Patients identified by the FWS search alone were generally admitted to the ED for trauma or mental health problems and were often found to be heavily under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The main intoxicants were ethanol and benzodiazepines. The free word search was highly complementary to traditional patient search methods, highlighting the importance of the combined patient search method in retrospective data collection.

Suspected Nonfatal Cocaine-Involved Overdoses Overall and With Co-involvement of Opioids

CONTEXT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a syndrome definition for detection of suspected nonfatal cocaine-involved overdoses. The definition can be used to monitor trends and detect anomalies in emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance data at the national, state, and local levels.

OBJECTIVE

This study describes the development of the nonfatal, unintentional/undetermined intent cocaine-involved overdose (UUCOD) definition and analysis of trends over time.

DESIGN/SETTING

CDC developed the UUCOD definition to query ED data in CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP). Data between 2018 and 2021 were analyzed from 29 states sharing data access in the Drug Overdose Surveillance and Epidemiology (DOSE) System via NSSP. Using Joinpoint regression, trends were analyzed for UUCOD overall, by sex and age group, and for UUCOD co-involving opioids.

MEASURES

Time trends between 2018 and 2021 were analyzed by examining average monthly percentage change. Individual trend segments and trend inflection points were analyzed by examining monthly percentage change.

RESULTS

During 2018-2021, a total of 27 240 UUCOD visits were identified by the syndrome definition. Analyses identified different patterns in trends for males and females, with largely similar trends for persons aged 15 to 44 years and 45 years or older. Analyses also identified seasonal patterns with increases in spring/summer months in UUCOD overall and UUCOD co-involving opioids and declines for both in fall/winter months.

CONCLUSION

This UUCOD syndrome definition will be useful for ongoing monitoring of suspected nonfatal overdoses involving cocaine and co-involving cocaine and opioids. Ongoing assessment of cocaine-involved overdose trends might identify anomalies requiring further investigation and inform deployment of resources.

Predictors and motives of polydrug use in opioid users. A narrative review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To review the recent literature on predictors and personal motives of polydrug use in opioid users with a focus on combined use of opioids with stimulants, benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids.

RECENT FINDINGS

In North America, methamphetamine is now the most prevalent co-drug in opioid users and is responsible for high mortality rates. In Europe, opioids are rather combined with either cocaine, benzodiazepines or gabapentionoids, but recent data are lacking.Main personal motives of opioid users to combine opioids with methamphetamine or cocaine is to boost the opioid high, inhibit the withdrawal effects of heroin and have a cheaper alternative to maintain the opioid high. Risk factors of polydrug use by opioid users included being male, younger age, homelessness, high-risk sexual behavior, needle sharing, incarceration, poor mental health and recent use of cocaine or prescription opioids. The motives for co-use of opioids and gabapentinoids also include seeking a better high, lower price and to self-medicate pain/physical symptoms, including those resulting from withdrawal.

SUMMARY

When treating opioid users with polydrug drug use, special attention should be paid to dosing when in opioid agonist methadone/buprenorphine treatment and to the presence of physical pain. The validity of part of the personal motives seems questionable which deserves attention when counselling opioid users with polydrug use.

Characterization of Nonfatal Opioid, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Polydrug Exposure and Clinical Presentations Reported to the Toxicology Investigators Consortium Core Registry, January 2010-December 2021

INTRODUCTION

To characterize and compare opioid-only, cocaine-only, methamphetamine-only, opioid-and-cocaine exposure, and opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure and to examine clinical presentations, leading to a better understanding of overdose effects involving these drug exposures.

METHODS

We examined drug exposures in the Toxicology Investigators Consortium (ToxIC) Core Registry from January 2010 to December 2021, a case registry of patients presenting to participating healthcare sites that receive a medical toxicology consultation. Demographic and clinical presentations of opioid-only, cocaine-only, methamphetamine-only, and opioid-and-cocaine exposure, and opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure consultations were described; differences between single and polydrug exposure subgroups were calculated to determine statistical significance. Clinical presentations associated with exposures were evaluated through calculated adjusted relative risk.

RESULTS

A total of 3,883 consultations involved opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, opioid-and-cocaine exposure, or opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure. Opioid-only (n = 2,268, 58.4%) and methamphetamine-only (n = 712, 18.3%) comprised most consultations. There were significant differences in clinical presentations between exposure subgroups. Opioid-and-cocaine exposure consultations were 8.15 times as likely to present with a sympathomimetic toxidrome than opioid-only. Conversely, opioid-and-cocaine exposure and opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure were 0.32 and 0.42 times as likely to present with a sympathomimetic toxidrome compared to cocaine-only and methamphetamine-only consultations, respectively. Opioid-and-cocaine exposure was 0.67 and opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure was 0.74 times as likely to present with respiratory depression compared to opioid-only consultations. Similarly, opioid-and-cocaine exposure was 0.71 and opioid-and-methamphetamine exposure was 0.78 times as likely to present with CNS depression compared to opioid-only consultations.

CONCLUSIONS

Used in combination, opioids and stimulants may mask typical clinical presentations of one another, misattributing incorrect drugs to overdose in both clinical treatment and public health surveillance.

It's what the community demands: Results of community-based emergency opioid overdose trainings

OBJECTIVES

In response to a surge of drug overdoses involving polysubstance use among Atlanta service industry workers that resulted in the deaths of five people in the Atlanta area in the summer of 2021, a local community of harm reductionists and nurses organized opioid education and naloxone distribution (OEND) training sessions specifically customized for service industry workers in Atlanta. After the sessions, the nurses and harm reductionists asked attendants to participate in a study concerning their response to overdoses. The reason nurses and harm reductionists conducted the study was to determine the efficacy of OEND training adapted for those working in the service industries as well as to evaluate and possibly modify the training sessions for future use. This pre-post study examined if and how participants' knowledge and attitudes toward an opioid-involved overdose changed after engaging with the OEND training. If the study determined that the sessions were successful in teaching service industry workers how to mitigate the immediate and devastating effects of overdose, we recommend expanding and implementing both adaptable training sessions like the OEND training referenced, as well as accompanying studies to improve the training sessions' effectiveness.

DESIGN

The pre-post study used convenience sampling to recruit participants in emergent OEND training. Participants completed an abbreviated version the Opioid Overdose Attitudes Scale (OOAS) which measured how, and to what degree, they changed their attitudes towards overdoses and their responses to them. Participants also completed an abbreviated version of the Opioid Overdose Knowledge Scale (OOKS) which measured how effectively the OEND increased their knowledge when it came to properly responding to an overdose, which included implementing naloxone as part of immediate rehabilitation treatment. Paired nonparametric tests assessed changes in participants' OOAS/OOKS scores.

RESULTS

A total of 161 individuals attended, and 72 consented to be in the study. The sample predominately consisted of white (76.4%) and female (66.7%) adults whose age averaged 34.3 years. Attitude and knowledge score improvements were statistically significant: approximately 11 points (p < .001) and 3 points (p < .001), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This rapidly implemented training was associated with improving attitudes and knowledge about responding to an opioid-involved overdose. We recommend expanding the scope of studies like these in order to develop and examine effective, dynamic, and targeted OEND training tailored towards specific community groups and situations, such as polysubstance overdose among service industry workers. As the opioid epidemic worsens, it is critical to equip community members themselves with the skills and tools to recognize and respond to opioid overdoses as a frontline prevention to overdose deaths.