title: Emergency department alcohol and drug screening for Illinois pediatric trauma patients, 1999 to 2009.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent guidelines recommend universal substance abuse screening for all trauma patients aged 12 years and older because brief interventions can help prevent future trauma. However, little is known about actual rates of screening in this setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Illinois State Trauma Registry was queried for severely injured patients from 1999 to 2009. Multivariate logistic regression was used to characterize, according to demographic and physiologic parameters, which patients were screened with blood alcohol and urine toxicology and which screened positive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 12,264 pediatric patients, 40% were tested for alcohol and 37% for drugs. Nine percent of patients screened positive for alcohol and 8% for drugs. Age strongly predicted positive tests, as did male sex. Black and Hispanic patients were screened for alcohol most frequently, but only Hispanics were more likely to test positive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although current guidelines recommend screening all trauma patients 12 years and older, current practice falls far short of this goal.
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N Saint Clair, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Electronic address: norman-nicolson@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Norman G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Nicolson
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N Saint Clair, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lank
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N Saint Clair, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Marie L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Crandall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Alcohol; Pediatrics; Screening; Trauma