Admission details of novel psychoactive substance users
| Total, n=237, n (%) | Synthetic cannabinoid, n=188, n (%) | Synthetic cannabinoid and additional substance, n=28, n (%) | Synthetic cathinone, n=6, n (%) | Synthetic cathinone and additional substance, n=11, n (%) | Nitrous oxide, n=4, n (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stayed for treatment | 142 (80) | 121 (81) | 13 (72) | 2 (67) | 3 (75) | 3 (100) |
| Length of stay <4 hours | 122 (60) | 106 (63) | 13 (54) | 1 (33) | 1 (25) | 1 (50) |
| Presenting symptom | ||||||
| Low GCS | 129 (56) | 111 (61)a | 15 (56) | 0 (0) | 2 (18) | 1 (25) |
| Seizure | 38 (16) | 29 (16) | 4 (15) | 1 (5) | 3 (27) | 1 (25) |
| Psychiatric | 28 (12) | 16 (9) | 5 (19) | 3 (50)a | 3 (27) | 1 (25) |
| Headache | 5 (2) | 5 (3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Tremor | 3 (1) | 2 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Dystonia | 2 (<1) | 0 (0) | 1 (4) | 0 (0) | 1 (9) | 0 (0) |
| Paraesthesia | 1 (<1) | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Abulia | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Other | 24 (10) | 19 (10) | 2 (7) | 0 (0) | 2 (18) | 1 (25) |
| Treatment | ||||||
| None | 140 (66) | 125 (72) | 8 (32) | 1 (25) | 4 (67) | 2 (100) |
| Benzodiazepine | 13 (6) | 11 (6) | 2 (8) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Naloxone | 12 (6) | 4 (2) | 7 (28) | 0 (0) | 1 (17) | 0 (0) |
| Counselling | 29 (14) | 21 (12) | 4 (16) | 3 (75) | 1 (17) | 0 (0) |
| Other | 14 (7) | 13 (7) | 1 (4) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Procyclidine | 3 (1) | 0 (0) | 3 (12) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
↵aChi-squared p<0.005 for presenting symptoms positively associated with NPS. GCS = Glasgow Coma Scale score. Percentages are a function of available data, further breakdown in supplementary material S1.