Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Severity of Blunt Injury

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Alcohol consumption is an important risk factor for injury. It is controversial, however, whether alcohol also has an effect on the severity of injury. We tried to evaluate the effect of alcohol on the severity of injury, especially on the severity of blunt injury due to traffic accidents, falls, collisions, and so on. METHODS: We used the ED-based injury registry in a regional emergency center. During two months, 831 victims were registered. We enrolled 397 patients who were over 15 years and had been injured by blunt trauma. We classified them into two groups by alcohol consumption. Positive alcohol consumption was defined as that positively confirmed by the victims or guardians, or that suspected on physical examination. The injury severity was measured by using the New Injury Severity Score, the Revised Trauma Score, the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS), the probability of survival of TRISS, and the International Classification of Disease 10th-version-based Injury Severity Score. RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was significantly larger in males than in females, in intentional injuries than in accidental injuries, in injury mechanisms other than traffic accident injuries, and in nighttime injuries than daytime injuries. However, the injury severity for the two groups was not significantly different. In the subgroup analysis, alcohol did not seem to affect the severity of injury due to any of the individual injury mechanisms. CONCLUSION: Alcohol consumption has no significant effect on the severity of blunt injuries.