Recreational drug overdose-related cardiac arrests: break on through to the other side.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The annual rate of recreational overdose (OD)-related death is increasing exponentially, making unintentional overdose the leading cause of injury-related death in America. Unfortunately, little attention in the resuscitation community has focused on the post-arrest care of this rapidly growing population.

Methods

We included patients presenting between January 2009 and February 2014 after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and abstracted baseline clinical characteristics and neurological outcomes. We considered an arrest to be an OD OHCA if toxicology screens were positive and not explained by therapeutic medication administration or home medications; or if there was a history strongly suggestive of OD. We compared the baseline clinical characteristics and o

SUBMITTER: Elmer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4363174 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature