Clinical Characteristics of Patients Referred to a Substance Abuse Liaison Department in an Academic Hospital, France

The Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies (CPE) stressed in 2016 that emergency providers were increasingly recognizing the important role of the Emergency Department (ED) in reducing adverse outcomes associated with untreated with substance abuse liaison department (SUDs). Additional research is required to close identified knowledge gaps and improve care of ED patients with SUD. Of the more than 4.5 million ED visits in 2009 in US for drug-related causes,34-32% involved alcohol use alone or in combination with other drugs. Few studies investigated the clinical characteristics of patients referred to an addiction liaison department in a general hospital. The present study will be retrospective in a sample of 700 patients consecutively admitted for addictive behaviors in the emergency department and in the Medicine or Surgery departments of the Amiens University Hospital Center, France.