USING AMBULANCE SERVICE RECORDS TO EXAMINE NONFATAL HEROIN OVERDOSES

Citation
G. Bammer et al., USING AMBULANCE SERVICE RECORDS TO EXAMINE NONFATAL HEROIN OVERDOSES, Australian journal of public health, 19(3), 1995, pp. 316-317
Citations number
4
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
ISSN journal
10357319
Volume
19
Issue
3
Year of publication
1995
Pages
316 - 317
Database
ISI
SICI code
1035-7319(1995)19:3<316:UASRTE>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
Overdoses are a preventable health hazard associated with heroin use. In the first study of its kind, we examined the records on nonfatal ov erdoses of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Ambulance Service fr om August 1990 to July 1993. There was a dramatic increase in the numb er of overdoses in the second half of 1992 and the first half of 1993, but thee reasons for the increase are not clear. Most overdoses occur red in men aged under 30, indoors, and many cases were taken to hospit al. Often there was no information on why the overdose occurred; when information was available, about half the cases were attributed to tak ing heroin in combination with other drugs. Suggestions for improving the quality of the data collected are made. These include more systema tic recording by ambulance officers of the drug involved in the overdo se and whether the drug was used alone or in combination with others, and linkage of ambulance service records with survey data and informat ion from analysis of heroin purity.