New technical report provides insights into drug-related hospital emergencies in Western Balkan and Southern Neighbourhood countries

The EUDA today launches a new technical report, Collection of drug-related hospital emergency data in Western Balkans and Southern Neighbourhood countries using Euro-DEN Plus methodology, presenting the latest findings from a multi-country data-collection exercise carried out between July and December 2024. The study, funded by the European Union under EUDA-implemented technical cooperation projects EU4MD II (¹) and IPA8 (²), builds on three previous cycles of data gathering and further consolidates the use of the Euro-DEN Plus (³) methodology in partner regions.

Twelve sentinel hospital emergency departments - nine located in the EU's Southern Neighbourhood (Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon and Palestine*) and three in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia) contributed data on acute drug toxicity presentations. They used a streamlined tool modified in 2023 to ease clinical workload while maintaining core monitoring indicators.

A total of 987 presentations were recorded across all sites. As in previous years, cases were predominantly among young men (median age 32). Most presentations involved single-substance use (58%), although polysubstance cases remained common. Illicit drugs accounted for most identified substances, with cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and heroin emerging as the most frequently reported, along with the prescription drug pregabalin. Prescription and over-the-counter medicines represented over a third of all substances captured.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) continued to appear in 2024, following their first detection in the region's dataset in 2023. Reported exclusively by centres in Israel and Palestine, NPS accounted for around 2.5% of all substance identifications.

Hospital outcomes were similar to previous years: two-thirds of patients were discharged from emergency departments, while almost one-third required hospital admission. A total of 56 deaths were recorded (case fatality ratio 5.7%). The median length of stay in emergency departments was just over 3.5 hours.

The report highlights the value of partnering with non-EU countries to provide timely, harmonised information on acute drug harms. As drug markets evolve rapidly, maintaining and strengthening these data-collection efforts, and triangulating them with other indicators, will be essential to understanding emerging threats and supporting evidence-based public health responses.