Evaluation of acute substance abuse patients admitted to the ICU by different scoring system

Drug abuse poisoning is a significant public health problem in many countries all over the world. The recent study aimed to assess the applicability of NEWS II and APACHE II scores as predictors of the ICU admission of acute intoxication by substance abuse. The study enrolled 98 patients admitted to the Alexandria Poison Center of the Main University Hospital (APC-AMUH) with a history of acute intoxication with substance abuse. Collected data included socio-demographic data, circumstances of exposure, and clinical and laboratory data. These data were employed to calculate NEWS II and APACHE II scores. A total of 98 substance abuse patients were admitted. Morphine constituted the highest percentage of substance intoxication (33.7%), followed by methanol (23.5%) and tramadol (17.3%). About one-third of the patients needed the ICU admission (32.7%). The median of NEWS and APACHE II was 7. The mean values of NEWS II and APACHE II in patients who entered the ICU were significantly higher than in patients who did not enter the ICU. The cut-off value of the ROC curve of NEWS II and APACHE II scores for admission to the ICU was 8 for both. These findings suggest that NEWS II and APACHE II scores are good predictors for the evaluation of patients intoxicated by substance abuse who need ICU admission.