Profile of an inpatient population with a history of illicit drug use

Using a data retrieval system, information was obtained from the records of all patients discharged over a three-year period with a primary or secondary diagnosis of illicit drug use. From 1987-1989, the number of patients and number of hospital days for patients with such diagnoses increased steadily. Seventy four percent of inpatients identified as users of illicit drugs were less than 35 years of age; this percentage was greatly influenced by the percentage (44-48%) of obstetrical patients in the population. Hospital charges for the major source of payment for the identified group exceeded $5 million in 1989. Medicaid was the major source of payment for the hospital care; the average length of hospital stay for that portion of the patients increased about 1.4 days over the three-year period. The number of hospitalized patients identified as users of illicit drugs increased over the period of study, and the population depended heavily on government sources for payment of inpatient services.