Prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and drug misuse among Rhode Island hospital emergency department patients.

Alcohol, tobacco and drug misuse are growing public health concerns. In 2007, an estimated 19.9 million (8.1%) of those 12-years-old or older living in the United States were users of illicit drugs, 126.8 million (51.1%) were drinkers of alcohol, and 70.9 million (28.6%) were users of tobacco products.1 In Rhode Island in 2007, 12.5% of those 12-years-old or older used illicit drugs, 63% had consumed alcohol, and 29.9% used tobacco products.2 The emergency department (ED) provides medical care to many patients with problems related to substance misuse. However, little is known about the extent and severity of substance misuse among ED patients.3 Knowing this information would greatly assist in the design of interventions to reduce substance misuse among ED patients. Recent research has shown the success of conducting interventions among ED patients to reduce or eliminate their use of alcohol or tobacco. Further research is needed to determine if ED-based interventions can be successful for the reduction or elimination of other types of drug misuse. In this study, we estimated the lifetime and previous three-month prevalence of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among a random sample of Rhode Island Hospital ED patients. We also estimated the level of need for intervention (either brief or intensive) for alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among these ED patients. Our ultimate goal is to use these estimates to plan effective interventions for substance misuse for this population.