Summary
Seizures secondary to illegal drug use treated in hospital Emergency Departments: a multicenter national study
Indira Vega Sánchez1, Guillermo Burillo-Putze1,2,3, Dima Ibrahim-Achi1,2, Miguel Galicia Paredes3,4, August Supervía5, Jordi Puiguriguer Ferrando6, M.ª de los Ángeles López Hernández2, Sebastián Matos Castro3,7, Òscar Miró3,4, en representación de la Red de Estudio de Drogas en Urgencias Hospitalarias en España (REDUrHE)
Affiliation of the authors
1Departamento de Medicina Física y Farmacología, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. 2Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. 3Red de Investigación de drogas en Atención Primaria (RIAPAD). 4Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain. 5Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.6Unidad de Toxicología Clínica, Hospital Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 7Universidad Europea de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain.
DOI
Quote
Vega Sánchez I, Burillo-Putze G, Ibrahim-Achi D, Galicia Paredes M, Supervía A, Puiguriguer Ferrando J, López Hernández MA, Matos Castro S, Miró O, en representación de la Red de Estudio de Drogas en Urgencias Hospitalarias en España (REDUrHE). Seizures secondary to illegal drug use treated in hospital Emergency Departments: a multicenter national study. Rev Esp Urg Emerg. 2022;1:75-80
Summary
OBJECTIVES. To estimate the incidence of seizures due to poisoning by street drugs in Spain and to describe the demographic, toxicologic, and clinical characteristics of the events.
METHODS. Prospective multicenter analysis of data from the registry of the Spanish Research Network on Drugs in Hospital Emergency Departments (REDUrHE), a 24-month project in 2017 to 2019 in 11 Spanish hospital emergency departments. The patients were treated for seizures after poisoning due to street drug use.
RESULTS. A total of 243 patients (in 5.4% of the cases registered) had seizures. Seventy-nine percent were men. No statistically significant differences between the sexes were found. A significantly higher incidence of seizures was observed only in the group of patients poisoned by unidentified substances. Patients without seizures had more palpitations (in 17.1% vs in 5.3% of those with seizures), chest pain (9.4% vs 2.1%, respectively), and cerebellar signs and anxiety (26.5% vs 10.7%) (P<.001, all comparisons). Patients with seizures differed with respect to need for orotracheal intubation (in 3.3% vs 1.6% of those without seizures; P=.038), positive urine tests for drugs (91.8 % vs 75.7%; P<.001), and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (5.3% vs 1.8%; P<.001). Length of stay in the emergency department and mortality did not differ between patients with and without seizures. The following events were over twice as likely in patients who had seizures: orotracheal intubation, odds ratio (OR), 2.161 (95% CI, 1.025-4.54); use of an unidentified substance, OR, 2.222 (95% CI, 1.457-3.389); and ICU admission, OR, 2.161 (95% CI, 1.025-4.554). Coingestion of alcohol was not related to having seizures: OR, 0.264; 95% CI, 0.097-0.715).
CONCLUSION. A higher risk of seizure was not associated with any particular known street drug, although the risk increased when an unknown substance had been used.