Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Positivity Rates in the Emergency Departments in Boston and Surrounding Areas.

Autor:	Tolan NV; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States., Kang P; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States., Chai PR; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.; Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.; The Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States.; The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA, United States., Erickson TB; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.; Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.; Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Cambridge, MA, United States., Hayes BD; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.; Department of Pharmacy, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States., Uljon SN; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.; Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States., Demetriou CA; Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus.; The Cyprus School of Molecular Medicine, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus., Melanson SEF; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The journal of applied laboratory medicine [J Appl Lab Med] 2024 Nov 04; Vol. 9 (6), pp. 1064-1070.
DOI:	10.1093/jalm/jfae076
Abstrakt:	Background: The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly had a significant impact on drug and alcohol use. In this article, we determine positivity rates for urine drugs of abuse and blood alcohol in 5 emergency departments (ED) in the greater Boston metropolitan area over a 4-year period (pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic). Methods: Positivity rates for the urine drug screening (UDS) panel and blood alcohol concentration (>80 mg/dL; over the legal limit in MA) were calculated in patients presenting to one of the 5 ED (2 academic hospitals in Boston, MA and 3 community hospitals outside Boston, MA) during each of the 4 different time periods: pre-COVID (January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019), stay-at-home (March 24, 2020 to May 18, 2020), during COVID (May 19, 2020 to March 28, 2021), and post-COVID (May 12, 2023 to August 31, 2023). Trend analysis was performed. Additionally, positivity rates during and post-COVID were compared to pre-COVID to determine any significant changes in drug positivity. Results: Stimulant (amphetamines and cocaine), cannabinoid, and methadone positivity increased during the pandemic and cocaine, cannabinoid, and methadone positivity remains elevated. By contrast, benzodiazepine and opioid (opiates, fentanyl, oxycodone) positivity decreased and remains lower post-COVID compared to pre-COVID. Patients in the ED with blood alcohol over the legal limit decreased both during and post-COVID. Conclusion: Our study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected drug and alcohol positivity rates in patients presenting to the ED in greater Boston area. We encourage other institutions to perform similar analyses to help determine local drug use patterns and appropriate composition of UDS panels. (© Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine 2024. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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