Alcohol and Violence in the Emergency Room: A Regional Report from the WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries

BORGES, G., OROZCO, R., CREMONTE, M, BUZI-FIGLIE N., CHERPITEL, CH. Y POZNIAK, V.

Brasilia, Brasil.

Conferencia; 1st Pan American Conference on Alcohol Policies; 2005

Pan american Health Organization

Abstract     Alcohol consumption has been found to be a major risk factor for both intentional and unintentional injuries in the emergency department (ED) setting. Most studies have not tried to differentiate the risk of injury associated with the long-term (usual) alcohol consumption from the risk of short, acute and intermittent alcohol use. This difference may be crucial in targeting at risk population.   We used a case-crossover analysis to study the risk across mode of non-fatal injury, using a large ERCAAP-WHO multicenter study of injured patients, collected in 1984-2002. Sample Adult patients, 18 years and older, admitted to the emergency department and reporting an injury was drawn from ED admission forms from the WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries, 2001-2002.   In this sample of non-fatal injured patients attending 3 EDs across the region, we found that the risk of a violent related-injury increased with drinking    [ (15.0- (5.8-39.1) ].   Patients with unintentional injury had a lower OR [ (4.2- (2.7-6.5) ]. If subjects decided to drink, increasing amounts may have pronounced consequences in their risk of triggering an injury, specially a violence-related injury.