Acutely injured patients intoxicated by alcohol: trend, monthly and weekly variation and social characteristics.
In a retrospective analysis of 391,973 outpatient visits for acute injuries in 1971-1981 in the Casualty Department of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, a mean proportion in alcohol intoxication of 13.4% was found when clinical detection of inebriation was used for assessment. The proportion of alcohol intoxication in 2458 patients in a prospective study during a six week period in Autumn 1983 was considerably higher compared to that observed in the retrospective series. In Autumn 1983 series, clinical detection of alcohol intoxication was combined with breath alcohol analysis resulting alcohol intoxication proportion of 29.7%. The good correlation (r = 0.889) observed in the prospective study between clinical detection of alcohol intoxication and breath alcohol analysis is probably explained by the prudence to staff in the Casualty Department during the study period since they were aware of the importance of the results for specific research purposes. The prospective study (Autumn 1983 series) disclosed that the incidence of intoxication in men was higher than that in women (35% vs 18%, p less than 0.001). In particular, divorced and unemployed patients were frequently intoxicated, in 45.2 and 68.5% of the cases, respectively. The proportion of alcohol intoxication was particularly low in patients of the first social class (executive position) being only 14.3% and in patients aged 54 years or more. The visits of alcohol intoxicated injured patients occurred most frequently between 14.30 and 08.00 and at week-ends. Nearly one third of the injured patients arrived after a delay of 9 hours or more.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Antti-Poika
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I
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*