• August Supervía, Dima Ibrahim-Achi, Òscar Miró, Miguel Galicia, FerrandoJordi PuiguriguerJPEmergency Department and Clinical Toxicology Unit, Hospital Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain., Maria Angeles Leciñena, Mª José Venegas de L'Hotellerie, Ángel Bajo Bajo, Beatriz Martín-Pérez, Guillermo Burillo-Putze, and Red de estudio de drogas en Urgencias Hospitalarias en España REDUrHE.
• Emergency Department and Functional Toxicology Unit, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Dec 1; 50: 422-427.

ObjectiveInvestigate whether there are differences in the drugs involved, symptomatology and severity of drug intoxication in patients with co-ingestion of alcohol attended in hospital emergency departments (ED).MethodPatients attended in 11 Spanish EDs due to drug intoxication were included. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were collected. A combined adverse event of cardiorespiratory arrest, need for intubation, and admission to intensive care or death was considered as the primary indicator of severity. The symptomatology and severity were compared adjusted for age, sex and type of drug based on whether or not ethanol had been co-ingested.Results3925 patients (alcohol co-ingestion: 2290, 58.3%) with a mean age of 33 (±11) years were included, and 25% were women. Co-ingestion of alcohol was observed in younger patients, in EDs in areas with high leisure tourism, on holidays and during the early morning hours. It was also more frequent in individuals intoxicated by amphetamine derivatives (66.2%) and cocaine (65.7%), and was more frequently associated with a reduction in consciousness (odds ratio [OR] = 2.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.69-2.67) and agitation/aggressiveness (OR = 1.22, 95% = 1.04-1.43). A combined adverse event was observed in 114 patients (2.9%) with no differences between individuals co-ingesting or not ethanol (3.1% vs. 2.7%; OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.74-1.65).ConclusionCo-ingestion of alcohol is more frequent in individuals intoxicated by cocaine and amphetamines and predisposes a greater reduction in the level of consciousness or agitation, although there are no differences in the severity of the episodes of drug intoxication.Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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