Substance Abuse in Intensive Care Unit/Coronary Care Unit Admissions, 1992

This study was conducted over a three month period and was designed to determine the proportion of admissions and lengths of stay attributed to substance abuse in an Intensive Care (ICU) and a Coronary Care (CCU) unit. Principle diagnoses leading to admission were classified and aetiological fractions were used to estimate the proportion of admissions and beddays which could be atrributed to tobacco, alcohol and other drug use. The survey asked the frequency of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use. Questions were also asked concerning the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day, and the number of grams of alcohol consumed per day.