ArticleCureus2023
Prevalence of Substance Abuse Among Trauma Patients in Rural West Virginia.
Article in Cureus, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Initiation of High-Potency Benzodiazepine Prescriptions Among Survivors of Severe Trauma.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Benzodiazepine-related polysubstance use and hospital resource utilization in older trauma patients: a retrospective multicenter study.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSubstance abuse poses considerable clinical, economic, and social challenges. West Virginia is hailed as the epicenter of the substance abuse in the United States, the prevalence and pattern of different trauma mechanisms in a rural context or in patients with different forms of substance abuse remain unclear.
objectiveWe performed the following analysis to understand the prevalence of substance abuse in patients with different trauma mechanisms in the rural setting with high substance abuse in the West Virginia.
methodsWe performed a cross-sectional retrospective analysis of adult trauma patients (motor vehicle, fall, assault, firearm suicide, brawl/rape and machinery) hospitalized in two tertiary care hospitals in West Virginia between 2006 and 2016. We identified all patients who had a urine drug screen (UDS) test and extracted the data related to the substance and trauma.
resultsAmong 8734 patients screened using UDS, 5940 (68.1%) patients were tested positive for the substance. Opiates, alcohol, benzodiazepines, and cannabis were the four most common substances identified in trauma victims. In all instances, the prescribed drug was less than 20%. Fatal outcome was observed in 366 patients in the sample, with 44% (n=162) testing positive for UDS, 12% (n=45) testing positive for only alcohol, and 15% (n=56) testing positive for both alcohol and UDS. Regarding the trauma mechanism, the motor vehicle accident (MVA) was the most prominent with a clear association of substance abuse with fatal outcome.
conclusionThe most prevalent trauma mechanism was a MVA, with a strong link between drug usage and mortality. Due to the high incidence of positive substance abuse screens, UDS tests may need to be more widely implemented in trauma in the West Virginia region. The findings of this study might help in establishing regional or national policies to reduce acute substance abuse.
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