AI Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted on 1,000 emergency room patient records from 1977 at a medical center in Los Angeles to assess the validity of the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) system data.
- Only 528 of the patients (52%) underwent toxicology testing, where 80% showed positive results.
- The findings revealed that 20% of DAWN reports were verified as correct, but 11% were incorrect, and 69% had mixed accuracy, highlighting the need for more reliable and prospective studies on DAWN report validity.
Article Abstract
One thousand eight emergency room patient records from which reports were contributed to the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) system from the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center in 1977 were studied. The drugs reported to DAWN for these patients were compared with the available toxicology laboratory reports for some of these same patients. The purpose was to test the validity of the data reported to DAWN. Toxologic analyses had been performed on only 528 patients (52%) of the entire sample. Eighty percent of these tested had some positive toxicology result. The DAWN reports were verified in 20% of the tested sample, found to be incorrect in 11%, and partially correct or partially incorrect in 69%. Drugs identified toxicologically had varied concentrations, some below or within therapeutic range and some at toxic levels. This study suggests that the reliability of DAWN REPORTS SHOULD BE TESTed prospectively in an unbiased definitive material study.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1980.01780140108013 | DOI Listing |
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