Cj. Cherpitel, ALCOHOL IN FATAL AND NONFATAL INJURIES - A COMPARISON OF CORONER AND EMERGENCY ROOM DATA FROM THE SAME COUNTY, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 20(2), 1996, pp. 338-342
Although alcohol is thought to be associated with severity of injury,
relatively little data are available that compares alcohol's involveme
nt in injury cases treated in the emergency room (ER) with coroner cas
es of injury fatality, both coming from the same county. Data from a p
robability sample of casualty patients 18 years and older treated at t
he University of Mississippi Medical Center ER in Jackson during a g-m
onth period (n = 275) are compared with data from coroner reports of a
ll fatalities from unnatural causes among those 18 and older in the sa
me county during a 1-year period surrounding the 6 months of data coll
ection in the ER (n = 222). The two samples are compared on demographi
c characteristics, cause of injury, place of injury, and alcohol use b
efore the event. A significantly larger proportion of the coroner samp
le was positive for alcohol (57%) and intoxicated (36%), compared with
the proportion of those in the ER sample breathalyzed within 6 hr of
injury, and reporting no drinking after the event who were positive (1
5%) and intoxicated (6%). Differences were most pronounced for motor v
ehicle accidents and fires. Violence-related injuries were more likely
in the coroner sample (32%) than in the ER sample (16%), and they wer
e more likely to involve alcohol at levels of intoxication. Those in t
he coroner sample were also more likely to be alcohol-positive for inj
uries occurring in all places except the home of another and the workp
lace. Using logistic regression, gender (male) and site (coroner) were
predictive of a positive blood alcohol across all causes of injury co
mbined. Gender (female), being alcohol-positive and site (coroner) wer
e significantly predictive of motor vehicle accidents. Alcohol was not
found to be a significant predictor for falls, other accidents, or in
juries resulting from violence. Data suggest that alcohol's associatio
n with severity of injury varies by cause of injury.