Ten‐year trends in hospitalizations related to cocaine abuse in France

In France, the abuse/misuse of psychoactive substances, including cocaine, is monitored via spontaneous notifications, and under‐reporting is its main limitation. Therefore, the French national hospital discharge database (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'information [PMSI]) was used to identify all hospital stays possibly due to complications related to cocaine use. The objective was to determine the main trends in the rate of cocaine‐related hospitalizations from 2010 to 2019 by age category and by areas. Relevant PMSI data were extracted using the International Classification of Diseases (10th edition). In France, hospitalizations for cocaine‐related complications increased by fourfold (2461 in 2010, 9843 in 2019, +300%). This increase was similar in men and women and was observed in each age category. Patients were mainly men (75% in 2010 and in 2019), with a median age of 38.5 and 35.2 years for men and women, respectively, in 2019. Cocaine poisoning in pediatric patients (0–9 years) concerned less than 10 patients in 2010 and 21 patients in 2019. PMSI data analysis shows an overall increase of cocaine‐related hospitalizations in France from 2010 to 2019 that can be linked in part to an increasing recreational use. The increase of pediatric cases of cocaine poisoning suggests a trivialization of cocaine consumption.