Screening for Cocaine and Mephedrone in patients with chest pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Screening for Cocaine and Mephedrone in patients with chest pain presenting to an Urban Emergency department
IRAS ID
140089
Contact name
Paul Dargan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust
Research summary
Cocaine and mephedrone are commonly used recreational drugs that are known to have significant effects on the heart and the cardiovascular system. The effects of these drugs on the heart can result in presentation to the emergency department with symptoms of chest pain and palpitations after use of these drugs. Previous studies have shown that doctors are less likely to ask about cocaine use than other risk factors for chest pain. However, it is important to know whether a patient with chest pain has used these drugs as the treatment is different. The aim of this study is to determine what proportion of patients presenting to the Emergency Department with chest pain have recently taken mephedrone and/or cocaine.
Patients with chest pain will be identified using the laboratory database to determine those that have had a blood test for the cardiac marker troponin-I in the emergency department. Clinicians in the emergency department will not be involved in the research and research team members will have no direct patient contact hence the treatment of these patients would not be influenced by this research . Routinely blood tests are requested on patients with chest pain, only the excess serum left after all the initial tests are performed by the lab would be used for the purpose of the study, no additional blood samples will be taken from patients. The samples will then be anonymised and no patient identifiable data retained for the purposes of this study. Further analysis will then be done for the presence of cocaine or mephedrone in these samples.
The results of this study will enable us to determine the prevalence of the use of mephedrone and cocaine in patients who attend the emergency department with chest pain and to consider whether routine screening for these drugs is warranted in this population.
REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0716
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion