U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Highlights of the 2009 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Findings on Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits

NCJ Number
232948
Date Published
December 2010
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This report from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), provides national estimates of the number of drug-related emergency department visits in 2009.
Abstract
Major findings from this report include: 1) almost 4.6 million drug-related emergency department visits occurred in 2009, with 49.8 percent attributed to adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals and 45.1 percent attributed to drug misuse or abuse; 2) the rate of emergency department visits for misuse or abuse of pharmaceuticals was 405.4 visits per 100,000 population compared to 317.1 per 100,000 population for use of illicit drugs; 3) the rate of emergency department visits for misuse or abuse of pharmaceuticals increased by 98.4 percent between 2004 (627,291 visits) and 2009 (1,244,679 visits); and 4) emergency department visits related to adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals increased by 82.9 percent between 2005 (1,250,377 visits) and 2009 (2,287,273 visits). Data for this report was obtained through the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), one of three major surveys conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to provide important health statistics for use by local, State, and Federal agencies to measure the public health impact from the use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and pharmaceuticals. Data are collected on individuals presenting to emergency departments with drug-related medical emergencies severe enough to require treatment. The findings from this report highlight the continued increase in the importance of pharmaceuticals to the total number of drug-related visits to hospital emergency departments. Tables, figures, and endnotes