Gillian A Beauchamp, Jennifer L Carey, Mikayla B Hurwitz, Briana N Tully, Matthew D Cook, Robert D Cannon, Kenneth D Katz, Andrew L Koons, Hope Kincaid, Marna Rayl Greenberg
{"title":"Sex Differences in Substance Use and Misuse: A Toxicology Investigators' Consortium (ToxIC) Registry Analysis.","authors":"Gillian A Beauchamp, Jennifer L Carey, Mikayla B Hurwitz, Briana N Tully, Matthew D Cook, Robert D Cannon, Kenneth D Katz, Andrew L Koons, Hope Kincaid, Marna Rayl Greenberg","doi":"10.2147/SAR.S263165","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Variations between male and female populations are previously reported in classes of harmfully used/misused drugs, severity of substance use disorder and risk of relapse. The aim of this study was to provide a review of bedside medical toxicologist managed, sex-specific poisonings in adults that present with harmful drug use/misuse.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>ToxIC Registry cases ≥19 and ≤65 years old, with harmful drug use or misuse during the timeframe June 2010-December 2016, were studied. Demographics, primary agents of toxic exposure, administration route and complications were analyzed. Descriptive methods were used in the analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The database included 51,440 cases. Of these, 3426 cases were analyzed in which the primary reason for the encounter was harmful substance use/misuse. Females were found to harmfully use/misuse pharmaceutical drugs (N=806, 65.6%) more than nonpharmaceutical drugs (N=423, 34.4%). Males more frequently used nonpharmaceutical drugs (N=1189, 54.1%) than pharmaceutical drugs (1008, 45.9%). Analgesics were used by females (N= 215, 18.2%) and males (N=137, 6.6%). Sedative hypnotics were used by females (N=165, 14%) and males (N=160, 7.8%). Psychoactive agents were used by males (N=325, 15.8%) and females (N=67, 5.7%). Sympathomimetics were used by males (N=381, 18.5%) and females (N=151, 12.8%). The majority of both male and female participants, 1712 (57.9%), utilized an oral route of administration. However, 312 (16.5%) of males utilized inhalation vs 73 (6.8%) of females inhaled their substance.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>There were sex-specific differences among patients evaluated for harmful substance use/misuse by toxicologists. Considering these differences in regards to management and preventive approaches may be indicated.</p>","PeriodicalId":22060,"journal":{"name":"Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1000,"publicationDate":"2020-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/b2/aa/sar-11-23.PMC7532888.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/SAR.S263165","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2020/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SUBSTANCE ABUSE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Variations between male and female populations are previously reported in classes of harmfully used/misused drugs, severity of substance use disorder and risk of relapse. The aim of this study was to provide a review of bedside medical toxicologist managed, sex-specific poisonings in adults that present with harmful drug use/misuse.
Methods: ToxIC Registry cases ≥19 and ≤65 years old, with harmful drug use or misuse during the timeframe June 2010-December 2016, were studied. Demographics, primary agents of toxic exposure, administration route and complications were analyzed. Descriptive methods were used in the analysis.
Results: The database included 51,440 cases. Of these, 3426 cases were analyzed in which the primary reason for the encounter was harmful substance use/misuse. Females were found to harmfully use/misuse pharmaceutical drugs (N=806, 65.6%) more than nonpharmaceutical drugs (N=423, 34.4%). Males more frequently used nonpharmaceutical drugs (N=1189, 54.1%) than pharmaceutical drugs (1008, 45.9%). Analgesics were used by females (N= 215, 18.2%) and males (N=137, 6.6%). Sedative hypnotics were used by females (N=165, 14%) and males (N=160, 7.8%). Psychoactive agents were used by males (N=325, 15.8%) and females (N=67, 5.7%). Sympathomimetics were used by males (N=381, 18.5%) and females (N=151, 12.8%). The majority of both male and female participants, 1712 (57.9%), utilized an oral route of administration. However, 312 (16.5%) of males utilized inhalation vs 73 (6.8%) of females inhaled their substance.
Conclusion: There were sex-specific differences among patients evaluated for harmful substance use/misuse by toxicologists. Considering these differences in regards to management and preventive approaches may be indicated.