Clinical and sociodemographic profile of acute intoxications in an emergency department: A retrospective cross-sectional study.

Background: Epidemiological studies about acute poisoning are useful for developing clinical toxicology, especially those carried out in hospital emergency departments. We aimed to evaluate acute intoxication clinical and sociodemographic profile in South Aragon Hospital, Spain. Methods: We carried out a retrospective cross-sectional study. We included 442 patients treated for acute poisoning in the emergency department during the 3 years 2015-2018. In the inferential analysis, the Chi-square test was used to compare proportions, and the Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare ranges. A confidence level of 95 per cent was considered in all tests. Results: The mean age was 44.1 years. 57.2% were men. Drugs of abuse were present in 243 patients (55%), drugs in 172 (38.9%), chemicals in 57 (12.9%) and three patients (0.7%) were poisoned by mushrooms. Nine different drugs of abuse, 73 drugs, 15 chemical compounds and 2 varieties of mushrooms were registered. Of the intoxicated patients, 92.3% had symptoms, 84.2% received treatment and 78.7% were discharged from the emergency department. Conclusions: We obtain a clear clinical and sociodemographic profile of intoxicated patients who come to the emergency department; the five toxins that cause most acute poisoning are: alcohol, benzodiazepines, antiarrhythmics, cannabis and carbon monoxide.

Modificaciones en el consumo recreativo de cannabis durante el confinamiento domiciliario en la pandemia por la COVID-19 / Changes in recreational cannabis use during home confinement in the COVID-19 pandemic

El objetivo del presente artículo fue analizar la influencia del confinamiento poblacional en la experiencia de consumo de cannabis e identificar los factores que modulan el patrón de consumo de esta sustancia en un grupo de usuarios de drogas residentes en la comunidad autónoma de Aragón (España). Para ello, se realizó un estudio de tipo cualitativo basado en la realización de dieciséis entrevistas personales semiestructuradas a consumidores de cannabis según un muestreo no aleatorio en bola de nieve. Tras el análisis de su discurso se observaron modificaciones tanto de aumento como de disminución en la experiencia de consumo, además de una posible relación entre los cambios producidos en el patrón de consumo de estos usuarios y las restricciones decretadas por el gobierno de este país. Así se concluyó que el confinamiento poblacional generó modificaciones en el patrón de consumo de los usuarios de drogas, el incremento del consumo se dio en usuarios con un aumento del tiempo libre disponible y que realizaron acopio de cannabis previo al asilamiento. Mientras, la reducción se relacionó con la disminución de las oportunidades para consumir cannabis, desconocimiento de proveedores y ampliación de las jornadas laborales, principalmente. (AU)

The aim of this article was to analyse the influence of population confinement on the experience of cannabis use and to identify the factors that modulate the pattern of cannabis use in a group of drug users living in the autonomous community of Aragón (Spain). For this purpose, a qualitative study was carried out based on sixteen semi-structured personal interviews with cannabis users according to a non-random snowball sampling. After analysing their discourse, changes were observed both in terms of an increase and a decrease in the experience of consumption, as well as a possible relationship between the changes in the consumption pattern of these users and the restrictions decreed by the government of this country. Thus, it was concluded that the population confinement generated changes in the consumption pattern of drug users, with an increase in consumption occurring in users with an increase in available free time and who had collected cannabis prior to asylum. Meanwhile, the reduction was related to the decrease in opportunities to consume cannabis, lack of knowledge of suppliers and longer working hours, mainly.