title: Breath alcohol analysis in the Accident and Emergency Department.
abstract: Breath alcohol analysis was undertaken in 1044 consecutive patients aged over 15 years attending the Accident and Emergency (A and E) Department of a rural district general hospital during a 50-day period. 16.5 per cent of all patients had the smell of alcohol on their breath, with 10.2 per cent of the patients recording a breath alcohol level equivalent to a blood level of 80 mg/100 ml or more. One-third of all patients attending between 9 pm and midnight, and almost two-thirds of patients attending between midnight and 3 am had positive breath tests. Positive breath tests were most likely in males, patients with head injuries, with overdoses, in victims of assault and in patients with a depressed conscious level, irrespective of cause. Clinical estimation of intoxication by alcohol may be accurate in the co-operative patient, but in the patient with a head injury or with a depressed conscious level from another cause, this is more difficult. Breath alcohol analysis is rapid, not-invasive, accurate and of clinical value in these and other high-risk patients attending hospital as emergencies.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000150:complications; D001944:Breath Tests; D003243:Consciousness; D004630:Emergencies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012606:Scotland; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol