33% of children and adolescents with acute behavioural disturbance had prior recreational drug use

This was a secondary analysis of a randomised, controlled trial involving 348 children and adolescents aged nine to 17 years who presented to Australian Emergency Departments with acute behavioural disturbance. The analysis examined the prevalence of prior recreational drug use as a potential contributing factor. The main result was that 33% (115/348) of the cohort reported prior recreational drug use. Specific substances included cannabis use in 25% (87/348), amphetamines or methamphetamines use in 9% (32/348), and benzodiazepines use in 7% (26/348). No p-values or confidence intervals were reported for these results. Safety and tolerability data were not reported for this secondary analysis. A key limitation is that the study design is observational, so it cannot establish a causal link between drug use and acute behavioural disturbance. The practice relevance suggests that recreational drug use may be a contributing factor to acute behavioural disturbance among children and adolescents presenting to emergency departments.