Background:

Household Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs shows the progressive increase in the consumption of hypnotics, alone or in combination with other substances. The aim of the research was to obtain information about the consumption of hypnotics and sedatives in population of Castilla y León treated in emergency medical services of four monitored hospitals between 2009-2013, describing clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the emergencies and what drugs were consumed, to provide information for future interventions.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was done by analyzing 3,089 emergencies related to consumption of hypnotics and sedatives, obtained from Emergency Indicator related to the use of psychoactive substances of the National Observatory on Drugs. There were used χ2 test for comparing proportions and t Student test for means.

Results:

The total number of emergencies was 3,089, ranging in years of study. In 1,814 cases they were consumed only hypnosedatives; 64.7% women and average age of 41 years. The most frequent diagnosis was overdose/attempted suicide with benzodiazepines (29.3%), being lorazepam the most consumed. In 23.3% of cases it was consumed more than one hypnosedative and 9% was associated with psychiatric disorders.

Conclusions:

The number of emergencies related to the consumption of at least one hypnosedative in the monitored hospitals in the period studied presented high levels especially in middle-aged women with no psychiatric disorder to justify their use. Benzodiazepines were the most consumed hypnotics, cause of overdose/attempted suicide episodes.

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