Usual and acute alcohol consumption are important risk factors for injury. Although alcohol-dependent people are thought to be at increased risk of injury, there are few reports suggesting that their risk is greater than that of nondependent alcohol users in a given episode of alcohol use. The authors conducted a case-crossover analysis of data on 705 injury patients from a hospital emergency department in Mexico City, Mexico, collected in 2002. The majority of the sample was male (60%) and over 30 years old (51%). With use of a multiple matching approach that took into account three control time periods (the day prior to the injury, the same day in the previous week, and the same day in the previous month), the estimated relative risk of injury for patients who reported having consumed alcohol within 6 hours prior to injury (17% of the sample) was 3.97 (95% confidence interval: 2.88, 5.48). This increase in the relative risk was concentrated within the first 2 hours after drinking; there was a positive association of increasing risk with increasing number of drinks consumed. These data suggested that relative risk estimates were the same for patients with and without alcohol use disorders.

The results suggest that both interventions tackle important issues related to depression in women but further data are needed for a better understanding of this relationship.

The effectiveness of 2 levels of intervention in reducing depressive symptoms in women was evaluated using a comparison design for a group condition (6 2-hr weekly sessions) and a minimum individual condition (20-min individual orientation plus psychoeducational material) with pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up assessments (93 in the group and 42 in the individual condition). A multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences, in the expected direction, within the groups but not between conditions. Further comparisons showed a significant reduction from pretreatment to posttreatment and from pretreatment to follow-up assessment. Similar results were found for criteria-related variables (somatic and anxiety symptoms); an increase in self-esteem was observed as well.

In the city of Pachuca, Mexico, a large relationship between drinking prior to the event and violence-related injury, regardless of alcohol dependence, was found. Depression was also related to violence, suggesting the need for more comprehensive intervention with these patients.

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