Race, ethnicity, location, and insurance status accounted for disparities in diabetes-related ED use from 2008 and 2017, even while visits increased by over 50%, a cross-sectional study has found.
Adriana Belmonte
April 29, 2021, 9:29 AM
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a rapidly growing issue in America, and the costs of treatment is highest for alcohol-related abuse across America.
According to a recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), substance use disorder costs hospital systems upwards of $13 billion a year. The estimated costs for each substance group ranged from $4 million for inhalant-related disorders to $7.6 billion for alcohol-related disorders.
“It’s not surprising because alcohol is the most accessible of all the substances,” Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), told Yahoo Finance. “I can go one block from my house and when everything was closed, the liquor store was open in my neighborhood. It’s accessible in every single way. We’ve made alcohol drinking part of our social interaction, part of our everyday routine. We may drink a glass of wine with dinner. So that’s not su
What is already known about this topic?
Poisonous mushroom ingestions can result in serious illness and death. The national prevalence of health care use associated with accidental poisonous mushroom ingestion is unknown.
What is added by this report?
During 2016, an estimated 1,328 emergency department visits and 100 hospitalizations were associated with accidental poisonous mushroom ingestion. During 2016–2018, 8.6% (48 of 556) of patients who sought care for poisonous mushroom ingestions had a serious adverse outcome. Serious adverse outcomes were more common in Medicaid-insured patients than commercially insured patients.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Wild mushrooms should not be consumed unless identified by an expert; continued public health messaging about the potential dangers of poisonous mushroom ingestions is needed.