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Hindi Research Article
Poisoning Casualties: Alcohol, Pharmaceuticals or Legal Highs Poisoning Cases at Emergency Rooms in The Swedish County Vrmland in 2007-2013
Soussan C1, Sundström K2, Andersson M3 and Kjellgren A4*
1Project coordinator, Karlstad University, Sweden
2Public health agent and coordinator for IDB Värmland, Sweden
3Project assistant, Karlstad University, Sweden
4Professor, Karlstad University, Sweden
- *Corresponding Author:
- Anette Kjellgren, PhD
Professor, Centre for Public Safety and Department of Psychology
Karlstad University
SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Tel: +46 54 700 21 73
E-mail: Anette.Kjellgren@kau.se
Received date: December 05, 2015 Accepted date: December 18, 2015 Published date: December 29, 2015
Citation: Soussan C, Sundström K, Andersson M, Kjellgren A (2015) Poisoning Casualties: Alcohol, Pharmaceuticals or “Legal Highs”? Poisoning Cases at Emergency Rooms in The Swedish County Värmland in 2007-2013. J Community Med Health Educ 5:386. doi: 10.4172/2161-0711.1000386
Copyright: © 2015 Soussan C. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: The growing number of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), also labelled as “legal highs”, constitutes a challenge to public health. It is uncertain whether this trend is related to the increase in number of poising cases reported by emergency rooms. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of NPS in acute cases of poisoning in the Swedish county Värmland. The numbers of NPS casualties were correlated with poisoning by other substances. Both, the gender and age distribution of the reported cases were recorded. Method: Records classified as poisoning casualties at the emergency rooms in Värmland during 2007- 2013 were collected and analyzed. Results: NPS and illicit drugs constituted only a small part (1.67% and 7.84% respectively) of the total poisoning casualties. The results also revealed that alcohol and pharmaceuticals were present in the majority of cases (91.2%), and were to a larger extent involved in polydrug abuse and suicide attempts. Furthermore, the results uncovered an alarming poisoning problem among women who had taken pharmaceuticals and for suicidal young people. Conclusions: It is unclear whether the comparatively low prevalence of NPS and illicit drug related poisoning casualties reflect the real prevalence of injury cases or a possible under-reporting.
Background: The growing number of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), also labelled as “legal highs”, constitutes a challenge to public health. It is uncertain whether this trend is related to the increase in number of poising cases reported by emergency rooms. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of NPS in acute cases of poisoning in the Swedish county Värmland. The numbers of NPS casualties were correlated with poisoning by other substances. Both, the gender and age distribution of the reported cases were recorded. Method: Records classified as poisoning casualties at the emergency rooms in Värmland during 2007- 2013 were collected and analyzed. Results: NPS and illicit drugs constituted only a small part (1.67% and 7.84% respectively) of the total poisoning casualties. The results also revealed that alcohol and pharmaceuticals were present in the majority of cases (91.2%), and were to a larger extent involved in polydrug abuse and suicide attempts. Furthermore, the results uncovered an alarming poisoning problem among women who had taken pharmaceuticals and for suicidal young people. Conclusions: It is unclear whether the comparatively low prevalence of NPS and illicit drug related poisoning casualties reflect the real prevalence of injury cases or a possible under-reporting.
