The affliction of injecting drug use (IDU) has resulted in the emergence of a subgroup of people with a unique set of medical issues. We aimed to describe the emergency department (ED) presentations of IDUs.In a prospective observational study over a 3-month period, we identified characteristics of patients with a history of active IDU presenting to the ED.From 1 January 2010 to 31 March 2010, 146 patients with a history of IDU were identified. These contributed to 222 acute presentations to the ED. Baseline characteristics revealed that patients were predominantly male, of Irish nationality, with high levels of homelessness, unemployment and lack of stable family or intimate partner relationships. 45
作者:Gerard, O'Connor;Tara, McGinty;Sarah Jane, Yeung;Daire, O'Shea;Alan, Macken;Eamon, Brazil;Patrick, Mallon
来源:Emergency medicine journal : EMJ 2014 年 31卷 8期