The rising tide of methamphetamine use in elderly trauma patients

Methamphetamine (METH) is associated with an elevated risk of injury and the outcomes in the elderly remain unclear. We analyzed METH's impact in elderly trauma patients.

Retrospective analysis (2009-2018) of trauma patients at a Level I trauma center. Elderly patients were defined as age ≥55. Substance use was identified by blood alcohol test and urine drug screen. Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess patient and injury characteristics with mortality.

Of 15,770 patient encounters with substance use testing, 5278 (34%) were elderly. Elderly METH use quadrupled over time (2%-8%; p < 0.01). Elderly METH + patients were more likely to require surgical intervention (35% vs. 17%), mechanical ventilation (15% vs. 7%), and a longer hospitalization (6.5 vs. 3.6 days) compared with elderly substance negative. Multivariate analysis showed increasing age, ventilator use, and injury severity were associated with mortality (ps < 0.01); METH was not related to mortality.

Substance use in elderly trauma patients increased significantly. METH use in elderly trauma patients is a risk factor for significantly greater resource utilization.