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Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to document the clinical presentation of emergency
department (ED) patients who tested positive for concurrent cocaine (COC) and ethanol
(EtOH) use and the incidence of cocaethylene (CE) formation in this study population.
Four study groups were evaluated: (1) drug-free, (2) EtOH-only, (3) COC-only, and
(4) COC plus EtOH. CE was detected in plasma or urine specimens in 88% of the COC/EtOH-positive
patients, and correlated directly with plasma COC and its metabolite benzoylecognine.
Blood pressure and body temperature did not vary across study groups. COC/EtOH-positive
patients displayed a significantly higher mean respiratory rate while the EtOH-only
study group had an elevated mean heart rate. No significant differences were detected
with respect to cardiac and neurological complaints between study groups. Trauma complaints
in the drug-positive groups were more frequent than the incidence reported in the
drug-free population. COC/EtOH-positive patients had the greatest percentage of trauma
complaints (34.6%). Nearly half of the patients who tested positive for CE cited trauma
as the primary reason for reporting to the ED. We conclude that ED patients who have
concurrently used COC and EtOH are more closely associated with presentations related
to traumatic injury than to those related to toxicologic complications.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
February 26,
1996
Received in revised form:
October 5,
1995
Received in revised form:
January 31,
1996
Received:
September 1,
1995
Footnotes
☆Supported by the Medical Research Committee, St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center.
☆Presented in part at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics meeting in Atlanta, GA, April 10–14, 1995.
Identification
Copyright
© 1996 Published by Elsevier Inc.
