Substance Use-Related ED Visits by Substance Type

ED visits involving heroin and nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMO) are among the top substances 

in this sample of hospitals. Approximately 18% of substance use-related ED visits involved heroin and 16% 

involved the nonmedical use of prescription opioids.

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Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality For more information, please call (240) 276-1250

This profile presents data on ED visits related to heroin and nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMO). 

ED visits related to nonmedical use of prescription opioids are those with documented misuse or abuse 

of prescription opioids, including taking a dose more than prescribed or recommended, taking someone else’s 

prescribed opioids, and intentional poisoning with prescription opioids by another person. The information 

provided below summarizes unweighted data abstracted from 4/1/2019 to 10/15/2020. The data on alcohol 

presented here include ED visits related to underage (less than 21 years old) alcohol use and adult (ages 21 years 

and older) alcohol use in combination with other substances since the abstraction of ED visits for adults involving 

only alcohol was not yet complete.

DAWN: Heroin and Nonmedical 

Use of Prescription Opioids

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a nationwide public health surveillance system administered by the 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and 

Quality. As of October 15, 2020, data are being abstracted from 49 hospitals. Ultimately, the system will include at least 

50 non-Federal general hospitals with 24-hour emergency departments (EDs), consisting of 10 sentinel hospitals and 

40 probability-sampled hospitals. Data are abstracted directly from hospital electronic health records. DAWN captures 

data on ED visits related to recent substance use and misuse, such as alcohol use, illicit drug use, suicide attempts, and 

nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals.

DAWN data can be used to monitor substance misuse trends and serve as an early warning system to identify new psychoactive substances. Since hospital recruitment is incomplete and the data are unweighted, this profile provides only 

preliminary results that are not generalizable to the US; caution must therefore be exercised in interpreting the data 

presented here.
Heroin and NMO Use-Related 

ED Visits by Gender

Heroin and NMO Use-Related 

ED Visits by Age

Patients aged 26 to 45 accounted for just under 

two-thirds (64%) of heroin-related ED visits and 

more than half (51.5%) of ED visits related to nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMO). Patients 

over 45 accounted for the second highest group for 

heroin-related (23.4%) ED visits and nonmedical use 

of prescription opioid-related (30%) ED visits.

The gender distribution of heroin-related ED visits 

and visits related to nonmedical use of prescription 

opioids (NMO) is similar, with roughly two-thirds of 

those visits being male patients and one-third being 

female.

The above graph examines the percent of 

heroin and nonmedical use of prescription opioid 

(NMO)-related ED visits to total ED visits by 

community type. In this graph, the denominator is 

the number of total ED visits within each community 

type. Both heroin and non-medical use of prescription opioid-related ED visits were a higher percentage of total ED visits in urban communities (0.83% 

and 0.73% respectively) and suburban communities 

(0.57% and 0.47% respectively) as compared to rural 

communities (0.25% and 0.32% respectively).

Heroin and NMO Use-Related ED 

Visits to Total ED Visits by Community Type

Heroin and NMO Use-Related ED 

Visits to Total ED Visits by Disposition Type

Heroin NMO

More than two-thirds of heroin and nonmedical use 

of prescription opioid (NMO)-related visits (67% 

and 67.4% respectively) resulted in the patient’s 

release from the ED, such as departing for home or 

receiving a referral for substance use and/or psychiatric treatment. The second largest disposition category, admitted to the hospital, is also the same for 

heroin and nonmedical use of prescription opioids 

at 16.4% and 17.5% respectively.

v 1.0 December 2020 

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality For more information, please call (240) 276-1250

DAWN: Heroin and Nonmedical 

Use of Prescription Opioids