Pattern and characteristics of ecstasy and related drug (ERD) presentations at two hospital emergency departments, Melbourne, Australia, 2008-2010

Danielle Horyniak, Louisa Degenhardt, Devilliers Smit, Venita Munir, Jennifer Johnston, Craig Lindsay Fry, Paul Mark Dietze

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: To describe patterns and characteristics of emergency department (ED) presentations related to the use of ecstasy and related drugs (ERDs) in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: Retrospective audit of ERD-related presentations from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010 at two tertiary hospital EDs. Variation in presentations across years was tested using a two-tailed test for proportions. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to compare sociodemographic and clinical characteristics across groups. Results: Most of the 1347 presentations occurred on weekends, 24:00-06:00. Most patients arrived by ambulance (69 ) from public places (42 ), private residences (26 ) and licensed venues (21 ). Ecstasy-related presentations decreased from 26 of presentations in 2008 to 14 in 2009 ( p
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)317 - 322
Number of pages6
JournalEmergency Medicine Journal
Volume31
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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