TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Cocaine-related medical and trauma problems: a consecutive series of 743 patients from a multicentre study in Italy
JO  - European journal of emergency medicine
A1  - Pavarin, Raimondo
A1  - Lugoboni, Fabio
A1  - Mathewson, Sophie
A1  - Ferrari, Anna Maria
A1  - Guizzardi, Giordano
A1  - Quaglio, Gianluca
SP  - 208
EP  - 214
VL  - 18
IS  - 4
N2  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the spectrum of medical and trauma complications associated with self-reported cocaine use. METHODS: Patient databases of 23 emergency departments were searched for consultations related to cocaine use between January 2007 and December 2008. RESULTS: The population included 569 men (84.4%) and 105 women (15.6%): 505 (74.9%) patients were nondependent cocaine users and 169 (25.1%) were dependent cocaine users. The majority of patients (63.8%) used other drugs in combination with cocaine. Psychiatric symptoms were most frequently reported (60.9%), followed by cardiopulmonary (38.2%), gastrointestinal (22.5%), neurological (20.8%) and constitutional (17.2%) symptoms. Of psychiatric complaints, anxiety was the most common (31.5%). Sex-adjusted and age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) showed that palpitations were associated within 12 h of cocaine use [OR 2.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12-3.76], and psychotic symptoms (OR 3.05; 95% CI: 1.02-9.18) and hallucinations (OR 7.50; 95% CI: 1.12-50.31) were associated within more than 12 h of the use of cocaine. In a comparison of dependent and nondependent cocaine users, after adjusting for age and sex, cardiopulmonary symptoms (OR 1.56; 95% CI: 1.08-2.24) and paranoia (OR 2.14; 95% CI: 1.08-4.24) were associated with nondependent use of cocaine, and lethargy (OR 7.14; 95% CI: 1.55-35.56) was associated with dependent use of cocaine. The primary cause of trauma was unintentional injuries (32.4%). Sex-adjusted and age-adjusted OR showed a major risk for unintentional injuries with nondependent use of cocaine (OR 6.17; 95% CI: 1.38-42.29). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that cocaine users experience diverse symptoms and may present with a wide range of physical findings.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0969-9546
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MEJ.0b013e3283440f25
ID  - ref1
ER  -