Thursday, May 18, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 40 percent of teenagers treated for injuries at one hospital had traces of alcohol or illegal drugs in their blood, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

They said their finding, published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, suggested that it may be useful to screen young people treated for traumatic injuries for illegal substances.

The team at the University of Michigan Health System studied 443 patients aged 14 to 17 who were admitted to the University of Michigan's hospital for treatment of a severe injury between 1999 and 2003.

They found nearly 40 percent tested positive for something they should not have been using -- 29 percent of them for opiates such as opium or heroin, 11.2 percent for alcohol, and 20 percent for marijuana.

"The two major preventable health issues facing adolescents are injuries that result in death or disability, and lifestyle choices that have long-term, adverse health consequences," said Dr. Peter Ehrlich, who led the study.

"To help alter this risk-taking behavior, it is essential that drug testing and brief substance abuse intervention programs be included in the treatment of all injured adolescents," Ehrlich said in a statement.

Not every teen who was seen at the hospital was screened, so the researchers are not sure how representative their sample is.

"To really make an impact on the care of these adolescents, drug screening cannot be performed selectively and irregularly," Ehrlich said.

"Those who drink under the age of 19 are significantly more likely to report driving after drinking or getting into a car with someone who's been drinking -- and their odds of them being injured are two to three times greater than adults of legal drinking age," he said.

Reuters Health

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