TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Acute poisoning from substance abuse of benzodiazepines
JO  - Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening
A1  - Andersson, Jon Andreas
A1  - Brekke, Mette
A1  - Vallersnes, Odd Martin
SP  - e35
EP  - e35
VL  - 140
IS  - 10
N2  - BACKGROUND: Benzodiazepines are also used as intoxicants. This can be dangerous, particularly in multi-substance abuse. We describe cases of acute poisoning related to substance abuse of benzodiazepines in patients at the main A&E clinic in Oslo.     MATERIAL AND METHOD: We included all patients treated for substance abuse poisoning with benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics at the Oslo Accident and Emergency Outpatient Clinic from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015. The patients were found through a retrospective review of the A&E clinic's registers. Data were taken from patient records. Diagnosis of the toxic agent was based on the attending doctor's recorded clinical evaluation.     RESULTS: Of 1 037 cases, 787 (76 %) were men. The median age was 36 (interquartile range 28-46, range 14-78). Clonazepam (Rivotril) was the most frequently occurring drug, with 575 cases (55 %), followed by diazepam (Stesolid, Valium, Vival) 158 (15 %), alprazolam (Xanor) 125 (12 %) and oxazepam (Sobril) 94 (9 %). Zopiclone (Imovane, Zopitin) and zolpidem (Stilnoct) occurred rarely, in 25 (2 %) and 11 (1 %) cases, respectively. Benzodiazepines were combined with other intoxicants in 936 (90 %) cases, most frequently heroin 484 (47 %), ethanol 321 (31 %) and amphetamine 199 (19 %).     INTERPRETATION: In substance abuse poisoning, benzodiazepines were very often combined with other intoxicants, most frequently opioids, ethanol and/or amphetamine.<p />  <p>Language: no</p>
LA  - no
SN  - 0029-2001
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.4045/tidsskr.20.0035
ID  - ref1
ER  -