Alcohol Intake and Reduced Mortality in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury.
The purpose of our study was to determine whether alcohol intake influences short-term mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), using a comprehensive trauma database.



We collected data from 7 emergency departments (EDs) between June 1, 2008 and May 31, 2010, using the same data form. Cases were included if they met the following criteria: (i) older than 15 and (ii) injuries including TBI. Demographics and outcomes were compared between patients with and without alcohol intake. We present the risk of mortality using hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals.



A total of 76,596 trauma patients visited the EDs during the study period; 12,980 patients were older than 15 and had TBI. There were 4,009 (30.9%) patients in the alcohol-intake group, of whom 3,306 (82.5%) patients were male, 1,450 (36.2%) patients were moved by ambulance, and 1,218 (30.4%) patients' injuries were intentional. The most frequent injury mechanism was falling down with alcohol intake and blunt injury without alcohol intake. Mortality rate was 1.0% with alcohol intake and 2.0% without alcohol intake. After adjusting for all factors related to mortality, the hazard ratio of mortality was 0.72 in the alcohol-intake group.



Mortality rate due to TBI in the alcohol-intake group appears to be lower compared to that in the no-alcohol-intake group after adjusting for main confounding variables.
Emergency Medicine, Gil Medical Center, Gachon University, Incheon, Korea.
Jin Seong
0000-0001-6762-4692
JS
Cho
Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Sang Do
SD
Shin
Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Eui Jun
EJ
Lee
Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Kyoung Jun
KJ
Song
Emergency Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine and Seoul Paik Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Hyun
H
Noh
Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
Yu Jin
YJ
Kim
Emergency Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Ilsan, Korea.
Seung Chul
SC
Lee
Emergency Medicine, Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Hwaseong, Korea.
Ju Ok
JO
Park
Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Korea.
Seong Chun
SC
Kim
Social & Preventive Medicine, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
Seung-Sik
SS
Hwang
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000401:mortality*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors
Alcohol; Brain Injuries; Mortality