Cj. Cherpitel, DRINKING PATTERNS AND PROBLEMS AND DRINKING IN THE EVENT - AN ANALYSIS OF INJURY BY CAUSE AMONG CASUALTY PATIENTS, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 20(6), 1996, pp. 1130-1137
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.