Alcohol and injury among attendees at a New Zealand emergency department.

AIM This study investigated the role of alcohol in injury cases among patients attending an emergency department in Auckland during December 2000. METHODS A random sample of patients was interviewed and breath tested in the emergency department. Interviewing took place continuously for a three-week period. Using a case-crossover design the causal role of alcohol was assessed. RESULTS Thirty five per cent of injured patients reported having consumed alcohol prior to sustaining their injury; this is a high proportion compared with overseas research. Males and the under 30 years age group were over-represented in both alcohol-related and non alcohol-related injury cases. The risk of sustaining an injury was 2.8 times greater when alcohol was consumed. The median amount of self-reported absolute alcohol consumed prior to alcohol-involved injury was 103 ml (equivalent to about seven cans of beer), with the lower quartile at 37 ml and upper quartile at 246 ml. For injury cases reporting consumption of alcohol prior to their injury event, there was a cumulative risk of 1.14 for each 30 ml of absolute alcohol (two cans of beer) consumed. There were no differences between the quantity of alcohol consumed by males and females or younger and older participants. Of those with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) readings obtained from breath samples, 51% had BAC reading equal or greater than 0.300 mcg. Violence was found to be the cause of 17% of the injury cases and alcohol was reported as involved (victim and/or perpetrator) in 79% of these cases. Injury involving violence occurred most often in a public place or on a licensed outlet. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study of alcohol involvement in injury presenting to an emergency department in New Zealand. Findings indicate that a relatively high proportion of injury cases requiring emergency department treatment were alcohol-related and that the risk of an injury occurring was significantly increased by consumption of alcohol.

[1]  J. Shope,et al.  Adolescent injury in the emergency department: opportunity for alcohol interventions? , 2000, Annals of emergency medicine.

[2]  J Langley,et al.  Incidence of death and hospitalization from assault occurring in and around licensed premises: a comparative analysis. , 1996, Addiction.

[3]  M. Grønbaek,et al.  Validity of self-reported intakes of wine, beer and spirits in population studies. , 1996, European journal of clinical nutrition.

[4]  J. Langley,et al.  Homicide in New Zealand: an increasing public health problem. , 2010, Australian journal of public health.

[5]  R. Woolard,et al.  Patients with alcohol problems in the emergency department, part 1: improving detection. SAEM Substance Abuse Task Force. Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. , 1998, Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

[6]  S. Macdonald,et al.  Demographic and substance use factors related to violent and accidental injuries: results from an emergency room study. , 1999, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[7]  S. Casswell,et al.  The importance of amount and location of drinking for the experience of alcohol-related problems. , 1993, Addiction.

[8]  T. Stockwell,et al.  The relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and injury. , 1999, Addiction.

[9]  J. Howland,et al.  Alcohol as a risk factor for injury or death resulting from accidental falls: a review of the literature. , 1987, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[10]  K. Kroenke,et al.  Brief interventions for problem drinking: the road to dissemination. , 2000, Medical care.

[11]  C J Cherpitel,et al.  Alcohol, injury, and risk-taking behavior: data from a national sample. , 1993, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[12]  R. McClure,et al.  Injury and alcohol: a hospital emergency department study , 2001 .

[13]  G. D’Onofrio.  Screening and brief intervention for alcohol and other drug problems: what will it take? , 2000, Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

[14]  G. Borges,et al.  Casualties in Acapulco: results of a study on alcohol use and emergency room care. , 1994, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[15]  R. Knibbe,et al.  Seasonal variation in survey and sales estimates of alcohol consumption. , 1993, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[16]  A. Judd,et al.  Identifying alcohol-related harm in young drinkers: the role of accident and emergency departments. , 1999, Alcohol and alcoholism.

[17]  C. Cherpitel.  Breath analysis and self-reports as measures of alcohol-related emergency room admissions. , 1989, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[18]  A. Lemay,et al.  Patterns of visits to hospital-based emergency rooms. , 1998, Social science & medicine.

[19]  S. Macdonald,et al.  Alcohol and injury: a comparison of emergency room populations in two Canadian provinces. , 1999, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[20]  U. Rosenqvist,et al.  Heavy users of an emergency department: psycho-social and medical characteristics, other health care contacts and the effect of a hospital social worker intervention. , 1985, Social science & medicine.

[21]  V Murgraff,et al.  Risky single-occasion drinking amongst young people--definition, correlates, policy, and intervention: a broad overview of research findings. , 1999, Alcohol and alcoholism.

[22]  R. Honkanen,et al.  Impact of acute alcohol intoxication on patterns of non-fatal trauma: cause-specific analysis of head injury effect. , 1991, Injury.

[23]  R. Bender,et al.  Ordinal Logistic Regression in Medical Research , 1997, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

[24]  G. Borges,et al.  Alcohol consumption in emergency room patients and the general population: a population-based study. , 1998, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[25]  D. Vinson,et al.  Alcohol and injury. A case-crossover study. , 1995, Archives of family medicine.