DRINKING PATTERNS AND PROBLEMS AND DRINKING IN THE EVENT - AN ANALYSIS OF INJURY BY CAUSE AMONG CASUALTY PATIENTS

The association of alcohol and injury might be expected to vary by the specific cause of injury, but few studies have examined such associat ions across all causes of injury coming from the same population, larg ely because of the lack of a sufficient number of cases. This study ex amines the association of drinking patterns and problems and drinking- in-the-injury-event for six mutually exclusive causes of injury (falls , penetrating trauma, motor vehicle accidents, fires, violence, and ot her causes) in a merged sample of 3109 patients from four emergency ro om/trauma center studies that used Identical study methodology. The pr edictive value of drinking and demographic variables are examined sepa rately for each cause of injury, and variables predictive of reporting drinking before the event, feeling drunk at the time of injury, and a ttributing a causal association of drinking and the injury. Injuries s ustained from violence and falls had the greatest association with dri nking variables, with those with positive breathalyzer readings, and t hose who reported drinking before injury, frequent heavy drinking, and frequent drunkenness overrepresented in these two causes. Those who r eported a larger number of drinks consumed before injury and those who reported feeling drunk at the time were also overrepresented among th ose with injuries related to violence and falls. A larger proportion t han expected of those who attributed a causal association of drinking with the event sustained injuries related to violence, whereas a small er proportion sustained injuries from falls. Demographic characteristi cs were more predictive than drinking characteristics of each cause of injury, whereas drinking characteristics, particularly positive breat halyzer readings, were more predictive of drinking before specific cau ses of injury. These data provide information that may be useful in de veloping brief interventions for the prevention of alcohol-related inj uries in the emergency room or trauma center setting.