• J Emerg Med · May 2023

    Perceptions and Practices of Cannabis Use Among Emergency Department Patients.

    • Jason Nunez, Jamie Corroon, Gary Vilke, Edward Castillo, Dunya N Alfaraj, and Christopher J Coyne.
    • Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California.
    • J Emerg Med. 2023 May 1; 64 (5): 543554543-554.

    BackgroundNationally, in states where cannabis has been legalized, increases in cannabis-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits have also been observed.ObjectivesThis study aims to: 1) Describe the sociodemographic characteristics of cannabis users presenting to two academic EDs in California; 2) Assess cannabis-related behaviors; 3) Assess perceptions of cannabis; 4) Identify and describe reasons for cannabis-related ED utilization.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study of patients visiting one of two academic EDs between February 16, 2018 and November 21, 2020. Eligible participants completed a novel questionnaire developed by the authors. Basic descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis of responses.ResultsThe questionnaire was completed by 2577 patients. A quarter were categorized as Current Users (n = 628, 24.4%). Current, Regular Users were evenly divided across gender, were relatively younger (18-34 years, 48.1%), and were largely non-Hispanic Caucasian. Over half of all respondents believed that the use of cannabis was less harmful than tobacco or alcohol use (n = 1537, 59.6%). One in five Current Users (n = 123, 19.8%) reported driving while using cannabis in the past month. A small proportion (n = 24, 3.9%) of Current Users reported ever visiting the ED for a cannabis-related chief complaint.ConclusionsOverall, many ED patients are currently using cannabis; few report utilizing the ED due to cannabis-related problems. Current, Irregular Users may represent the ideal target group for ED-based educational efforts aimed at improving knowledge of safe cannabis use.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,704,841 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.