Alcohol and drug related emergency presentations in Albania

Introduction, Drug use in Albania is increasing significantly from year to year, based on the clinical experience of doctors in the emergency room.

Aim: To identify morbidity, pattern of emergency presentations of  adults and adolescents with alcohol, or drug use (AOD), type of substance use. 

Method: This is a retrospective study conducted at the University Hospital Center "Mother Teresa," specifically in the two major emergency departments (ED), the pediatric and adult emergency department. We studied medical records and emergency registries of patients ≥ 12 years old admitted to these emergency departments  due to alcohol or drug use. Patients under 14 years old were treated in the pediatric emergency department. (PED)

Findings: There were 253241 presentations in ED of which 1233 were related to AOD.  10 presentations related to AOD were registred at PED. The median age was 32 years old (interquartile range 22-43) of whom 96% were male. Alcohol was the most frequent precusor to presentation (57.8%), followed by alcohol+ cocaine (18.08%),  cocaine (6.89%), opioids (8.7%) and 3.89% new psychoactive drugs(NPS). NPS related presentations were mostly seen during summer months and 92%  of them were young adults who were on vacation in Albania. Alcohol intoxication was the most frequent diagnosis at presentation (45.36%), following by adverse effects of cocaine use  (21%) and drug related overdoses (12.4%). Presentations were more frequent over the weekend (62%)than on weekdays and the length of stay was significantly shorter for weekend presentations (Mann-Whitney U, p<0.05). Three quarters of patients were discharged directly from ED and almost half within four hours. 3.4% of patients required  admission to intensive care unit. There were 3 fatal outcomes resulting from cocaine overdose, 1 from opioid overdose and 2 from alcohol intoxication. 

Conclusions: Intervening through evidence-based prevention programs is now a national emergency. Young people need to be educated about harmful effects of AOD.. Only in this way can we save the youth who increasingly is dedicating themselves to AOD.