title: Alcohol drinking as a predictor of intensive care and hospital mortality in general surgery: a prospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse whether alcohol drinking increases admission to intensive care and in-hospital mortality in general surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective cohort study on a consecutive series of 1505 hospitalized patients in a Service of General Surgery of a tertiary hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Drinking pattern was defined by quantity, frequency and volume of drinking. Information on relevant confounders was obtained: smoking, body mass index, nutritional status (measured by serum albumin), cholesterol and its fractions, severity of the underlying disease and all therapeutic measures. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to assess the relationship between drinking and both admission to intensive care and in-hospital death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-nine (1.9%) patients died and 33 (2.1%) were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Drinking was heavier in men, patients without antecedents of cancer, with lower preoperative risk assessment scores, number of co-morbidities and age and higher serum albumin levels. After adjusting for age, severity of underlying disease, smoking and serum albumin, male drinkers of 72+ g/day had an increased risk of being admitted to ICU, the effect being stronger for week-day drinking (odds ratio, OR = 8.48; 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.68-42.8). A significant association was also seen between week-day drinking (72+ g/day) and death in men (OR = 7.19, 95% CI = 1.43-36.1). Numbers for women were too small to evaluate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Heavy drinking increases admission to intensive care and in-hospital mortality in hospitalized male patients undergoing general surgery procedures.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Jaén, Spain. mdelgado@ujaen.es
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delgado-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gómez-Ortega
authors.forename: Marcial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariscal-Ortiz
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palma-Pérez
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sillero-Arenas
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000401:mortality*