ORIGINAL PAPER
Clinical pattern of poisoning among patients declared as taking novel recreational drugs
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1
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Toxicology, Toxicology Unit)
2
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Radiology)
3
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Toxicology, Poison Information Centre)
Online publication date: 2020-04-29
Corresponding author
Anna Piekarska-Wijatkowska
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Department of Toxicology, Poison Information Centre, św. Teresy 8,
91-348 Łódź, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2020;33(4):445-55
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: Intoxication with novel psychoactive drugs poses a significant challenge for medicine due to diagnostic difficulties, complex clinical patterns
resulting from the polyethiology of poisoning, and the risk of fatal complications. Material and Methods: The authors of the present work have
made a retrospective review of medical records of the patients hospitalized at the Toxicology Unit (TU), diagnosed with poisoning by novel recreational
drugs. Results: In 2008–2013, 576 patients diagnosed with that type of poisoning were admitted to the TU. Of those, 192 (33.3%) patients were
positive for ethanol in addition to the most popular toxins found in the material collected from the patients, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (50 [8.6%]
patients) and amphetamine (35 [6.1%] patients). The most frequent clinical symptoms observed on admission were: anxiety (433 [75.1%] patients),
agitation (275 [47.7%] patients), and complaints associated with the circulatory system (225 [39.1%] patients). In the subgroup of 104 (18.0%)
psychiatrist-interviewed people, a relationship was found between the suicidal ideation reported during history-taking and the following factors: earlier
psychiatric treatment (p = 0.000), financial problems (p = 0.015) and prolonged unemployment (p = 0.022). Conclusions: The observed clinical
pattern may be associated with sympathomimetic syndrome due to poisoning by novel psychoactive substances. Preliminary results of this research
show that financial problems and a history of psychiatric treatment may enhance suicidal ideation in patients after acute poisoning by psychoactive
substances. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2020;33(4):445–55