Morbidity associated with heroin overdose presentations to an emergency department: a 10-year record linkage study.

Introduction: To examine hospitalizations in a cohort of 224 patients who presented with non-fatal heroin overdose to an ED.

Methods: A record linkage study, using the morbidity, mental health and mortality databases in the Data Linkage Unit of the Department of Health, Western Australia. The main outcome measures were hospital separations 5 years before and after entry into the cohort.