A mixed methods study on poisoning and injury-related emergency department visits associated with opioids in Canada, 2011 to 2022: from the Canadian hospitals injury reporting and prevention program

TL;DR

This study explores the contexts and co-occurrence of opioid-related emergency department visits in Canada from 2011 to 2022.

Contribution

The study provides in-depth contextual analysis of opioid-related ED visits, including co-occurring injuries beyond poisoning.

Findings

Non-prescribed opioid use without harm intent was the most common opioid use context.

Bystanders initiated 18.9% of ED visits, and naloxone was used before ED arrival in 23.4% of cases.

Most patients presented with poisoning effects, often alongside other injuries or conditions.

Abstract

The opioid crisis is a serious public health issue in Canada. There have been many surveillance programs and research studies on opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits at a national, provincial, regional or municipal level. However, no published studies have investigated the in-depth contexts surrounding opioid-related ED visits. In addition, few studies have examined injuries other than poisonings in those visits. The objective of this study is to investigate the contextual factors and co-occurrence of poisonings and injuries among the opioid-related ED visits in a Canadian sentinel surveillance system on injuries and poisonings from 2011 to 2022.

This study used a mixed methods design. The data source was the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program. We first selected all opioid-related ED visits during our study period and then identified the contextual factors through a content analysis of the combination of the narrative description and other variables in the patients’ records. The contextual factors were organized into themes as opioid use context, social resource utilization, bystander involvement, and prior naloxone use. The opioid use context was used as a co-variable to examine the other themes and ED presentations (poisonings and other injuries). Quantitative descriptive approach was used to analyze all the contexts and ED presentations.

The most common opioid use context was non-prescribed opioid use without intention to cause harm, followed by self-poisoning, children’s exposure, and medication error. Various rare contexts occurred. Paramedics participated in 27.9% of visits. Police and security guards were involved in 5.1% and 2.3% of visits, respectively. Child welfare or social workers were involved in 0.4% of visits. Bystanders initiated 18.9% of the ED visits. Naloxone use before arriving at the ED occurred in 23.4% of the visits with a variety of administrators. The majority of patients presented with poisoning effects, either with poisoning effects only or with other injuries or conditions.

Our study has provided an in-depth analysis of contextual factors and co-occurrence of poisonings and injuries among opioid-related ED visits in Canada. This information is important for ED programming and opioid-related poisoning and injury intervention and prevention.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-20016-8.

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