The rising tide of methamphetamine use in elderly trauma patients

Methamphetamine (METH) is associated with an elevated risk of injury and the outcomes in the elderly remain unclear. We analyzed METH’s impact in elderly trauma patients. Retrospective analysis (2009–2018) of trauma patients at a Level I trauma center. Elderly patients were defined as age ≥55. Subst...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of surgery 2021-06, Vol.221 (6), p.1246-1251
Main Authors: Benham, Derek A., Rooney, Alexandra S., Calvo, Richard Y., Carr, Matthew J., Diaz, Joseph A., Sise, C. Beth, Bansal, Vishal, Sise, Michael J., Martin, Matthew J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol
Assaults
Blood alcohol level
Chromatography
Drug screening
Drug use
Geriatric trauma
Geriatrics
Health risks
Hospitals
Impact analysis
Injuries
Injury analysis
Intoxication
Length of stay
Marijuana
Mass spectrometry
Mechanical ventilation
Methamphetamine
Mortality
Multivariate analysis
Older people
Patients
Resource utilization
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Scientific imaging
Statistical models
Substance use
Tetrahydrocannabinol
THC
Toxicology
Trauma
Trends
Urine
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Summary:Methamphetamine (METH) is associated with an elevated risk of injury and the outcomes in the elderly remain unclear. We analyzed METH’s impact in elderly trauma patients. Retrospective analysis (2009–2018) of trauma patients at a Level I trauma center. Elderly patients were defined as age ≥55. Substance use was identified by blood alcohol test and urine drug screen. Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess patient and injury characteristics with mortality. Of 15,770 patient encounters with substance use testing, 5278 (34%) were elderly. Elderly METH use quadrupled over time (2%–8%; p 
ISSN:0002-9610
1879-1883
DOI:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.02.030