title: A review of emergency room studies on alcohol and injuries conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean region.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alcohol-attributable burden of injury is one of the most serious public health problems in Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). Although knowledge on alcohol's involvement in injuries has progressed along with the implementation of evidenced-based alcohol policies in developed countries, this was not true for the most part of LAC countries for which reducing alcohol-related injuries is an urgent necessity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review was performed in order to identify the most up-to-date information on alcohol and injuries derived from emergency room (ER) studies conducted in LAC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings corroborate that alcohol has a high prevalence among injured patients in the ER setting in LAC, with violence-related injuries showing an increased association with alcohol use compared to unintentional injuries. However, a large number of studies did not include all types of injury and the measurement of injury risk associated with alcohol consumption. The amount of alcohol consumed in the event and hazardous drinking patterns seem to be strongly associated with injury occurrence, as well as drinking in public spaces, but a paucity of data relating to social-contextual factors limits the interpretation of the heterogeneity in the magnitude of the association of alcohol and injuries found across studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a lack of ER studies able to support strategies to reduce alcohol-related injuries in a region where effective alcohol policies are scant. Future research should focus on understanding how drinking influenced by local contexts and drinking behaviours may affect the risk of injury within each LAC country.
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA. gabriel.biousp@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andreuccetti
authors.forename: Heraclito B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Korcha
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: Cheryl J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Cherpitel
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control