Clusters of substance use and mental health variables with emergency room visits in U.S. adults: The 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Background: This study evaluated the prevalence of emergency room (ER) visits, given numerous substance use and mental health variables in the past year.

Methods: Data from 5206 emergency room visits out of 27,170 adults were extracted from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Oblique principal component cluster analysis was used to classify 39 substance use and mental health variables into disjoint clusters.

Results: In 2020, the overall prevalence of ER visits was 21.9 %. Being female, age above 65 years, with insurance, low income and low education levels, and being African American increased the risk of ER visit. Nine clusters were made out of 39 substance use and mental health variables. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis showed 15 substance use and mental health variables were significantly associated with ER visits including heavy alcohol use past 30 days in cluster 3, nicotine dependence and cigarettes use in cluster 4, major depressive episode, serious psychological distress, and suicidal plans in past year in cluster 5, any psychotherapeutics use in cluster 7, tranquilizers use and lorazepam products use in cluster 8, and any pain reliever, pain reliever misuse, hydrocodone products use, oxycodone products use, tramadol products use, and codeine products use in cluster 9.

Conclusions: Several substance use and mental health problems, including nicotine dependence, illicit drugs, and serious mental health problems were among the common reasons for ER visits. These findings suggest the effective use of ER as the venue to implement interventions for substance use and mental health.