Mortality Increased With Hospital-Based Care for Hallucinogen Use
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 3, 2025 -- Hospital-based care for hallucinogen use is associated with increased mortality, according to a study published online March 3 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Daniel T. Myran, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked health administrative data for all people aged 15 years and older living in Ontario, Canada, from 2006 to 2022. Overall and cause-specific mortality risks were compared for members of the general population and those with incident acute care involving hallucinogens or other substances.
The analyses included 11,415,713 people; 0.07 percent had incident acute care involving hallucinogens. The researchers found that in a matched analysis involving 77,101 people with a median follow-up of seven years, acute care involving hallucinogens was associated with an increased risk for all-cause mortality within five years compared with the general population (absolute risks, 6.1 versus 0.6 percent; hazard ratio, 2.57). Similar elevations in risk were seen in analyses excluding people with comorbid mental or substance use disorders (hazard ratio, 3.25). Relative to the general population, people with acute care involving hallucinogens had a significantly increased risk for death by unintentional drug poisoning, suicide, respiratory disease, and cancer (hazard ratios, 2.03, 5.23, 2.46, and 2.88, respectively).
"We found that people requiring acute care for hallucinogen use are at substantially elevated risk of premature death compared with the general population," the authors write. "Despite a resurgence of interest in identifying potential therapeutic effects of hallucinogens, major gaps exist in our understanding of associated risks."
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted March 2025
Read this next
Almost One-Quarter of U.S. Firearm Suicides May Occur Outside the Home
WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2025 -- A growing number of firearm suicides in the United States occur outside the home, most commonly in motor vehicles, according to a study published...
988 Contacted More Than 16 Million Times From Its Launch to December 2024
WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2025 -- Opportunities remain to increase use of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, according to a research letter published online June 9 in JAMA Network...
Systemic Social Factors May Increase the Risk of Psychotic Experiences
TUESDAY, June 10, 2025 -- Experiences with discrimination may increase the risk of psychotic experiences among marginalized young adults, according to a study published online May...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.