Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized with drug and substance abuse in Gorgan, Iran, 2008 - 2015

Drug and substance abuse is one of the most common causes of hospitalization for poisoning. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of poisoned cases with drug and substance abuse in Gorgan, Iran.
A cross-sectional study was done on patients with acute poisoning who had been hospitalized in 5 Azar hospital of Gorgan, during March 2008 to March 2015. Data were collected from patient records and then analyzed by Stata V.11 and Chi-square test.
Poisoning with drug and substance abuse included 17% (n=136) of the total poisoning cases. Among 136 cases, 81.6% were male and the average age of cases was 41.19±16.75 years. In this study, the prevalence of substance abuse and also drug abuse were 62.5% and 37.5%, respectively. Opium and its derivatives were the first substance abuse agents (71.7%) and also Tramadol was the first agent for drug abuse (51%). Finally, 13 patients (9.6%) died, among whom 10 (76.9%) died due to opium and its derivatives and also crack.
Opium and its derivatives and also Tramadol were the most common causes of hospitalization for substance and drug abuse in Gorgan that were seen most commonly among younger men.