DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02756.v2
title: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), 1994: [United States]
title: Version 2

description: The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) survey is designed to
capture data on emergency department (ED) episodes that are induced by
or related to the use of an illicit, prescription, or over-the-counter
drug. For purposes of this collection, a drug "episode" is an ED visit
that was induced by or related to the use of an illegal drug or the
nonmedical use of a legal drug for patients aged six years and
older. A drug "mention" refers to a substance that was mentioned
during a drug-related ED episode. Because up to four drugs can be
reported for each drug abuse episode, there are more mentions than
episodes in the data. Individual persons may also be included more
than once in the data. Within each facility participating in DAWN, a
designated reporter, usually a member of the emergency department or
medical records staff, was responsible for identifying drug-related
episodes and recording and submitting data on each case. An episode
report was submitted for each patient visiting a DAWN emergency
department whose presenting problem(s) was/were related to their own
drug use. DAWN produces estimates of drug-related emergency department
visits for 50 specific drugs, drug categories, or combinations of
drugs, including the following: acetaminophen, alcohol in combination
with other drugs, alprazolam, amitriptyline, amphetamines, aspirin,
cocaine, codeine, diazepam, diphenhydramine, fluoxetine,
heroin/morphine, inhalants/solvents/aerosols, LSD, lorazepam,
marijuana/hashish, methadone, methamphetamine, and PCP/PCP in
combination with other drugs. The use of alcohol alone is not
reported. The route of administration and form of drug used (e.g.,
powder, tablet, liquid) are included for each drug. Data collected for
DAWN also include drug use motive and total drug mentions in the
episode, as well as race, age, patient disposition, reason for ED
visit, and day of the week, quarter, and year of episode.
description: More than 500 EDs that were part of a scientifically-
 selected sample of general hospitals in the country provided data for
 DAWN. The DAWN sample is constructed to produce estimates of substance
 abuse visits to emergency departments across the nation and to 21
 oversampled metropolitan areas. The sample design of DAWN does not
 permit state-level estimates. Hospitals in the frame were stratified
 according to size, with hospitals reporting 80,000 or more annual
 emergency department visits assigned to a single stratum and selected
 with certainty. Additional strata were defined according to whether
 the hospital had an organized outpatient department or a
 chemical/alcohol inpatient unit. The 21 oversampled MSAs include:
 Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Buffalo, NY, Chicago, IL,
 Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL,
 Minneapolis, MN, New Orleans, LA, New York, NY, Newark, NJ,
 Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA,
Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, and Washington, DC.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), 1994: [United States]
description: Patients treated during 1994 in the emergency department
of nonfederal, short-stay general hospitals that have a 24-hour
emergency department. Eligible respondents were those patients who met
the following criteria: (1) they were aged 6 years or older, (2) their
presenting problem(s) was/were induced by or related to drug use,
regardless of when the drug ingestion occurred, (3) the case involved
the nonmedical use of a legal drug or any use of an illegal drug, (4)
the patient's reason for taking the substance(s) included one of the
following: (a) dependence, (b) suicide attempt or gesture, or (c)
psychic effects.
description: medical recordsBecause data are abstracted from medical records
completed by hospital staff who treat the patients, the accuracy of
these reports depends on their careful recording of these
conditions. It is also important to recognize that DAWN does not
provide a complete picture of problems associated with drug use, but
rather focuses on the impact that these problems have on hospital
emergency departments in the United States. If a person is admitted to
another part of the hospital for treatment, or treated in a
physician's office or at a drug treatment center, the episode would
not be included in DAWN.To protect the privacy of respondents,
all variables that could be used to identify individuals have been
encrypted or collapsed in the public use file. These modifications
should not affect analytic uses of the public use file.In January
1994, several DAWN hospital emergency departments in Los Angeles were
closed for a period of time due to the Northridge earthquake. In
addition, emergency department records in some facilities were
destroyed. This may explain the decrease in the total number of
drug-related episodes in Los Angeles between the first half of 1993
and the first half of 1994.Changes in reporting procedures in
1994 in two national panel hospitals may have caused an increase in
the volume of drug-related cases reported there. Because these
hospitals reported a large number of methamphetamine cases, part of
the estimated 75 percent increase in methamphetamine-related episodes
from 1993 to 1994 may be an artifact. However, after removing these
two hospitals from the estimation, methamphetamine still showed a
45-percent increase.The data were collected and cleaned by
Johnson, Bassin, and Shaw, Inc. Westat, Inc. created the weights and
analytic files, and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
created the public use file and codebook.For more information, visit the DAWN Web site.