Comprehensive toxicology screening in patients admitted to a university trauma center

The utility of performing comprehensive toxicology screening in patients admitted to a university trauma center was evaluated by retrospective review of the results of such screening for a one-year period. Eighty-five percent of the screens were performed on males. Sixty-nine percent of the screens were positive for one or more drugs, and eighty-five percent of the positive screens occurred in males. More than half of the positives were in individuals 30 years of age or less. Ethanol was present in 81% of the positive screens, and of these it was the only drug found in 84% of the cases. Blood ethanol concentrations for the entire series ranged from 0.01 to 0.41% (mean, 0.15%; SD, 0.08%). Blood ethanol measurement alone is more cost effective than comprehensive toxicology screening and may be nearly as useful as the comprehensive screen in the majority of trauma cases.