Substance abuse is associated with traumatic injuries. Prior studies of drug use and injury have relied on urine drug of abuse screens, which have false positives, false negatives and inability to detect novel drugs. Our study characterizes the relationship between injury mechanism and drugs of abuse detected in serum via confirmatory testing.

This prospective observational study was conducted from Jan–Sept 2012 at a level 1 trauma center on trauma patients > 13 years who had blood drawn for routine tests. Demographic, injury and standard laboratory data were abstracted from patient charts. Comprehensive serum drug testing was done using liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF/MS, LC1200-TOF/MS 6230, Agilent, Santa Clara, CA).

Of 272 patients, 71.0% were male, 30.5% had violent injury type and 32.4% had a penetrating injury mechanism. Violent injury type and penetrating injury mechanisms were more frequent in patients who were male, younger age, Black, or Hispanic (p < 0.05 for all). LC-TOF/MS showed that 46.0% were positive for at least one drug. Stimulant drugs were associated with violent injury type (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.64–5.15) and penetrating injury mechanism (OR 3.3; 95% CI 1.86–5.82). Tobacco use was associated with violent injury type (OR 3.9; 95% CI 2.25–6.77) and penetrating injury mechanism (OR 4.14; 95%CI 2.4–7.14).

Many drugs are present in trauma patients that are not routinely detected on urine drug of abuse tests. Both stimulant drugs and cigarette smoking are indicators of multidimensional hazardous behaviors, which were associated with more violent and penetrating trauma.