Table 1.
Characteristics of adolescent and young adult benzodiazepine poisoning ED visits by sex: United States, 2016
| Adolescents, 12–17 years | Young adults, 18–29 years | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| No. (%)a | No. (%)a | No. (%)a | No. (%)a | |
| Total | 3,315 | 4,065 | 15,978 | 14,950 |
| Principle diagnosis: BZD poisoning | 2,389 (72.1) | 2,681 (66.0)^ | 8,859 (55.4) | 8,310 (55.6) |
| Died in ED or hospital | * | * | 154 (1.0) | 69 (0.5)^ |
| Outcome of ED visit | ||||
| Treat and release | 2,491 (75.1) | 2,813 (69.2)^ | 9,324 (58.4) | 8,513 (56.9) |
| Admitted to same hospital | 591 (17.8) | 826 (20.3) | 6,043 (37.8) | 5,648 (37.8) |
| Transferred to another short-term hospital | 230 (6.9) | 415 (10.2)^ | 509 (3.2) | 736 (4.9)^ |
| Other (patient not admitted, died in ED) | * | * | 102 (0.6) | 53 (0.4) |
| Diagnoses at ED visit | ||||
| Any mental health or substance use disorder | 1,907 (57.5) | 2,416 (59.4) | 12,449 (77.9) | 12,285 (82.2)^ |
| Any mental health disorder | 1,218 (36.7) | 1,973 (48.5)^ | 7,694 (48.2) | 10,002 (66.9)^ |
| Depression | 698 (21.1) | 1,443 (35.5)^ | 3,797 (23.8) | 6,219 (41.6)^ |
| Anxiety disorder | 360 (10.9) | 780 (19.2)^ | 3,626 (22.7) | 5,118 (34.2)^ |
| Other mood disorder | 98 (3.0) | 249 (6.1)^ | 1,749 (10.9) | 2,150 (14.4)^ |
| Other mental health disorder | 589 (17.8) | 614 (15.1) | 2,917 (18.3) | 3,506 (23.5)^ |
| Any substance use disorder (excluding nicotine) | 1,031 (31.1) | 809 (19.9)^ | 7,990 (50.0) | 5,689 (38.1)^ |
| Alcohol use disorder | 201 (6.1) | 182 (4.5) | 2,864 (17.9) | 2,321 (15.5)^ |
| Sedative/anxiolytic use disorder | 236 (7.1) | 124 (3.1)^ | 1,651 (10.3) | 847 (5.7)^ |
| Opioid use disorder | 70 (2.1) | 52 (1.3) | 2,182 (13.7) | 1,281 (8.6)^ |
| Cannabis use disorder | 544 (16.4) | 448 (11.0)^ | 2,657 (16.6) | 1,627 (10.9)^ |
| Stimulant use disorder | 117 (3.5) | 84 (2.1) | 1,605 (10.0) | 1,139 (7.6)^ |
| Nicotine dependence | 383 (11.6) | 325 (8.0)^ | 5,519 (34.5) | 4,294 (28.7)^ |
| Expected primary payer b | ||||
| Medicaid | 1,605 (48.4) | 1,751 (43.1) | 4,935 (30.9) | 5,401 (36.1)^ |
| Private insurance | 1,351 (40.7) | 1,909 (47.0)^ | 6,151 (38.5) | 6,044 (40.4) |
| Self-pay | 232 (7.0) | 249 (6.1) | 3,655 (22.9) | 2,299 (15.4)^ |
| Other (Medicare, no charge, other) | 124 (3.7) | 156 (3.8) | 1,199 (7.5) | 1,189 (8.0) |
| Median household income of patient zip code c | ||||
| <43,000 | 898 (27.1) | 980 (24.1) | 3,845 (24.1) | 4,225 (28.3)^ |
| 43,000 to <54,000 | 825 (24.9) | 908 (22.3) | 4,025 (25.2) | 3,919 (26.2) |
| 54,000 to <71,000 | 760 (22.9) | 1,032 (25.4) | 3,749 (23.5) | 3,468 (23.2) |
| 71,000+ | 781 (23.6) | 1,089 (26.8) | 3,938 (24.6) | 3,099 (20.7)^ |
| Patient county size d | ||||
| Large metropolitan (1+ million) | 1,292 (39.0) | 1,558 (38.3) | 4,594 (28.8) | 4,028 (26.9) |
| Fringe of large metropolitan | 632 (19.1) | 899 (22.1) | 4,064 (25.4) | 3,170 (21.2) |
| Mid-sized metropolitan (250,000 to <1 million) | 663 (20.0) | 813 (20.0) | 3,407 (21.3) | 3,726 (24.9) |
| Small metropolitan (50,000 to <250,000) | 283 (8.6) | 275 (6.8) | 1,664 (10.4) | 1,601 (10.7) |
| Micropolitan | 292 (8.8) | 284 (7.0) | 1,415 (8.9) | 1,351 (9.0) |
| Not metropolitan or micropolitan | 153 (4.6) | 223 (5.5) | 627 (3.9) | 973 (6.5)^ |
BZD: benzodiazepine; ED: emergency department
*
Small cell count; numbers not presented
^
P-value comparing males and females <0.05
a
Presented numbers are weighted
b
Missing expected primary payer: 0.1% of total
c
Missing median household income: 2.0% of total
d
Missing patient county size: 0.8% of total