Emergency department visits due to new psychoactive substances and other illicit drugs in Taiwan: preliminary results of the Taiwan Emergency Department Drug Abuse Surveillance (TEDAS) project
Chih‐Chuan Lin, Te−I Weng, Chip‐Jin Ng, Chia-Pang Shih, Jui Hsu, Yuan-Chun Liao, Chen‐Chang Yang, Cheng‐Chung Fang, TEDAS Research Group
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) has markedly increased worldwide; thus, it is important to monitor NPS-related effects. The Taiwan Emergency Department Drug Abuse Surveillance (TEDAS) project aims to assess the patterns of recreational drug use in patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) across the country. Here, we report the preliminary results of this project. METHODS: This observational study included the collection and analysis of urine samples and assessment of the clinical presentation of patients from 79 EDs across Taiwan. Clinical features were recorded through a questionnaire filled by attending doctors or nurses who collected urine samples for clinical diagnosis. Urine samples were analyzed for 110 drugs and metabolites using electrospray ionization liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). RESULTS: = .001) was less frequent among NPS-positive cases than among other illicit drug-positive cases. CONCLUSIONS: The TEDAS project provides a nationwide epidemiological profile of recreational drug use in Taiwan. More than half of the recreational drugs were NPSs, which were comprehensively detected using LC-MS/MS.