Characteristics of Alcohol-related Injuries in Adolescents Visiting the Emergency Department

Alcohol is frequently a factor affecting emergency department patients, and alcohol consumption is more common among those who are injured. In Korea, the socioeconomic impact of alcohol has been enormous because of traditional permissive attitudes toward alcohol. Juvenile drinking has increased recently; consequently, an increase in alcohol-related injuries is likely in this population. Therefore, we compared the characteristics and severity of alcohol-related injuries in adolescents and adults. All injured patients seen at six EDs throughout 2007 were included. We obtained data from the 'Development of a model for an in-depth injury surveillance system based on the emergency department' surveillance. The proportion of adolescents who drank was 5.0%. No significant alcohol-related difference in injuries was found between male and female adolescents (P = 0.14), whereas in adults, being male was strongly related to alcohol consumption (P < 0.001). Among traffic accidents, motorcycle-related injuries were strongly associated with alcohol use in adolescents (odds ratio [OR] 2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-5.83). Results also indicated that alcohol-related injuries in adolescents showed poor outcomes (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.47-3.81) as compared with those in adults (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.26-1.59). Preventive strategy on alcohol-related injuries in adolescents should focus on reducing motorcycle accidents.

[1]  Victor R. Preedy,et al.  Korea National Statistical Office , 2010 .

[2]  J. Draus,et al.  Drug and alcohol use among adolescent blunt trauma patients: dying to get high? , 2008, Journal of pediatric surgery.

[3]  S. Fekete,et al.  Cross-national comparisons of the association between alcohol consumption and deliberate self-harm in adolescents. , 2007, Suicide & life-threatening behavior.

[4]  T. Naimi,et al.  Binge Drinking and Associated Health Risk Behaviors Among High School Students , 2007, Pediatrics.

[5]  D. Krewski,et al.  Adolescent injuries in Canada: findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2000 – 2001 , 2006, International journal of injury control and safety promotion.

[6]  Yin-ming Li,et al.  Alcohol-related Injuries at an emergency department in Eastern Taiwan. , 2006, Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi.

[7]  김태윤,et al.  Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Severity of Blunt Injury , 2005 .

[8]  E. Christensen,et al.  Drug and alcohol use among patients admitted to a Danish trauma centre: a prospective study from a regional trauma centre in Scandinavia , 2004, European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine.

[9]  Patricia F Waller,et al.  Alcohol effects on motor vehicle crash injury. , 2003, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[10]  Allan F. Williams,et al.  Situational Factors in Seat Belt Use by Teenage Drivers and Passengers , 2002 .

[11]  Tim Stockwell,et al.  INTERNATIONAL GUIDE FOR MONITORING ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND RELATED HARM , 2000 .

[12]  M. Moffatt,et al.  House fire injury prevention update. Part I. A review of risk factors for fatal and non-fatal house fire injury , 1999, Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention.

[13]  S P Baker,et al.  Alcohol and injury severity: reappraisal of the continuing controversy. , 1997, The Journal of trauma.

[14]  D. Trichopoulos,et al.  Adolescents in high-risk trajectory: clustering of risky behavior and the origins of socioeconomic health differentials. , 1997, Preventive medicine.

[15]  C. Cherpitel.  Drinking patterns and problems and drinking in the event: an analysis of injury by cause among casualty patients. , 1996, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[16]  C. Cherpitel.  Alcohol in fatal and nonfatal injuries: a comparison of coroner and emergency room data from the same county. , 1996, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[17]  L Li,et al.  Personal and behavioral predictors of automobile crash and injury severity. , 1995, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[18]  J. Shepherd,et al.  The relationship between alcohol intoxication, injury severity and Glasgow Coma Score in assault patients. , 1995, Injury.

[19]  H. Meislin,et al.  A prospective investigation of the impact of alcohol consumption on helmet use, injury severity, medical resource utilization, and health care costs in bicycle-related trauma. , 1995, The Journal of trauma.

[20]  M. G. Fuller.  Alcohol use and injury severity in trauma patients. , 1995, Journal of addictive diseases.

[21]  F P Rivara,et al.  The effect of acute alcohol intoxication and chronic alcohol abuse on outcome from trauma. , 1993, JAMA.

[22]  C. Cherpitel.  Alcohol and injuries: a review of international emergency room studies. , 1993, Addiction.

[23]  大韓民國統計廳,et al.  死亡原因統計年報 : 人口動態申告에 의한 集計 = Annual report on the cause of death statistics : based on vital registration , 1991 .

[24]  P. Zador,et al.  Variations in minimum licensing age and fatal motor vehicle crashes. , 1983, American Journal of Public Health.