ALCOHOL IN HOME AND LEISURE INJURIES

The part that alcohol plays in non-motor vehicle unintentional injurie s is not well known. Injuries at and during leisure form a very hetero geneous group. Alcohol involvement varies considerably from one subgro up to another: for example, all cases of alcohol poisoning involve alc ohol by definition, whereas alcohol involvement is very infrequent in sports injuries. One-third of falls, half of drownings and fire deaths and two-thirds of hypothermia deaths involve alcohol. Young and middl e-aged males form a risk group of alcohol-related trauma. Alcohol invo lvement varies also from country to country: deaths from alcohol poiso ning are several times as common in Finland as in other Western countr ies. In contrast to experience in Western countries, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, wealthier injured Africans were found to have alcohol invol vement more often than poor Africans. Alcohols seems to increase the r isk of falling, bicycle and motor vehicle injuries largely to the same extent. The relative importance of the two main components of alcohol -related risk-risk-taking and impaired psychomotor functions-requires further exploration in each main external cause category of home and l eisure injuries.