Alcohol Consumption in Emergency Room Patients and the General Population: A Population‐Based Study

Abstract

Our purpose was to obtain epidemiological measures of the association between habitual alcohol consumption, alcohol consumption before the event and alcohol abuse/dependence, and emergency room (ER) attendance compared to the general population in Pachuca-Hidalgo, a city located in the central area of Mexico. The study was a population based case-control design. Data consisted of breath samples to estimated blood alcohol concentration, as well as an interviewer-administered questionnaire, collected on a 24-hr basis, during the entire week, in each of the three main ERs of Pachuca. Cases were all patients who visited the three main hospitals ERs during the study period, classified according to their status as an injured or noninjured (medically ill) patient (n = 1511). The general population sample (n = 920) serves as a comparison group for both types of patients. Injured patients in the ER sample were significantly more likely to report high frequency/high quantity of drinking during the last 12 months than the general population [odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals = 5.55 (1.72-17.97)] and to report drinking within 6 hr before the injury. These relationships did not hold for noninjured patients. Both types of patients were more likely to report high frequency of drunkenness during the preceding 12 months, to be positive for alcohol dependence and to report drug use. We found in the city of Pachuca, a large relationship between habitual alcohol consumption and ER injuries. These findings support associations of alcohol consumption and admission to an emergency room found in ER and general population studies in other countries. Due to the increases in the risk found for abuse/dependent in both injured and noninjured patients, they both would benefit with a brief intervention strategy for reducing their alcohol consumption.

Multicentre study of acute alcohol use and non-fatal injuries: data from the WHO collaborative study on alcohol and injuries

“…This seems counterintuitive because it is known that alcoholics have an increased risk of injury. 20,42,43 Since patients with alcohol use disorders have a greater baseline risk for injury when compared with patients who do not have alcohol use disorders and because they drink more often, they will be at greater overall risk for injuries associated with drinking. While the chronic use of alcohol may lead to a higher risk of accident and injury, the acute effects of consuming alcohol among those who do not drink regularly, such as adolescents, may put an individual at greater short-term risk.…”

Weekly and daily cycle of alcohol use among the U.S. general population

“…legal limit for driving) [1][2][3]. Many emergency department studies and several meta-analyses have also concluded that exposure to alcohol substantially increases the risk of injury -particularly injuries occurring within 6 h of exposure to alcohol [4][5][6][7]. Based on agreement between BAC measurement and self-reported alcohol consumption, studies such as the WHO Collaborative Study Group on Alcohol and Injuries have defined alcohol-related injury as an injury with a positive self-report of alcohol consumption in the 6 h prior to the event [4].…”

A Descriptive Comparison of Alcohol-Related Presentations at a Large Urban Hospital Center from 1902 to 2009

“…These differences are likely reflected in the demographics of alcohol-related presentations to Bellevue. For instance, a similar urban hospital in Pachuca, Mexico reported 9.4 % of their a Patients with unspecified data were excluded from percentage calculations b Nonverbal intoxication refers to inebriated patients lacking a sufficient level of consciousness to speak c "Head CT anticipated" connotes that the treating physician intended to obtain a computerized tomography study of the patient's head, although we did not follow this to ensure that the CT order was actually executed ED patients to have used alcohol within 6 h of presentation, compared with an estimated 4.9 % of Bellevue patients who presented because of alcohol [17]. A recent survey of Tennessee urban EDs found a similar 4.9 % of presenting patients to be acutely intoxicated with alcohol based on serum analysis [7].…”