OPIATE AND COCAINE CONSUMERS ATTENDING BARCELONA EMERGENCY ROOMS - A ONE-YEAR SURVEY (1989)

Due to the limitations of standard epidemiological methods, indirect i ndicators have often been used to describe the characteristics of drug abusing populations and to assess prevalence trends in illegal drug u se. In Barcelona (Spain), a study of emergency room (ER) attendance wa s carried out to describe the population of opiate/cocaine consumers a cross the whole city who use this service. Three thousand four hundred and five consumers of opiates and/or cocaine, aged 15-44 years, who a ttended ERs during 1989, were identified. They accounted for 6807 epis odes in the hospitals surveyed Their mean age was 26 years, men (73%) being 1 year older than women (25.2 years). The drug of abuse was spec ified in the clinical records of 60% of individuals, heroin being the most frequently specified (56%). The main reason for attendance was 'o ther medical condition' (OMC) (55% of episodes), followed by withdrawa l (34%) and overdoses (6%). Seventy-one percent of individuals were re sidents of Barcelona city, yielding a rate of 3.2 opiate/cocaine consu mers attending ERs per thousand Barcelona residents aged 15-44. The ge ographical distribution of the rates in the city showed a very large d ifference between districts, the most deprived ones having a higher ra te of consumers attending ERs. ER data can provide valuable insights i nto the nature and dimensions of drug abuse problems.