Original ContributionsAlcohol intoxication increases morbidity in drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Methods
Five medical centers were involved in the study. During the study period, patients injured in motor vehicle accidents were included as follows: if they had impaired consciousness or were suspected of having consumed alcohol, or had unimpaired consciousness and consented to a blood alcohol examination. Excluded were those who refused to have a blood alcohol examination or were transferred from other hospitals. Measurement of BAC was done immediately when a patient was enrolled in the study.
Results
In the 1-year study period of 1997, 923 injured drivers were enrolled, consisting of 742 males and 181 females. The patients' ages ranged from 16 to 78 years, with an average of 33.4 ± 0.5 years. Eleven percent of the patients were of old age (over 54 years old). Of the 923 patients, 206 were drivers of automobiles (22.3%) and 717 (77.7%) were motorcyclists. There was no significant discrepancy between automobile drivers and motorcyclists in ISS, GCS score, morbidity, or mortality. Alcohol
Discussion
In our study, most of the drivers, whether intoxicated or non-intoxicated, sustained mild or moderate injuries (ISS < 9, 717 of 923 patients; 77.7%). Intoxicated young motorcyclists were the most frequently seen victims involved in motor-vehicle crashes. The intoxicated drivers were less willing to use safety gear and were more frequently involved in noncollision-type accidents than were nonintoxicated drivers; they were less severely injured when involved in noncollision-type accidents. The
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Wei-Kon Chen, MD, of the China Medical College Hospital; Hsiao-Sheng Chang, MD, of the Tzu-Chi General Hospital; Ying-Chieh Huang, MD, of the Kaohsiung Medical University, Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital; and Hau-Chin Liau, MD, of the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-LinKou, for their help in the collection of the patient data.
References (25)
- et al.
Effect of ethanol on lactic acidosis in experimental hemorrhagic shock
Ann Emerg Med
(1984) - et al.
Ethanol effect on active Na+ and K+ transport in cultured fetal rat hepatocytes
Biochem Pharmacol
(1989) - et al.
Effect of ethanol ingestion on the severity and outcome of trauma
Am J Surg
(1982) - et al.
The relationship between alcohol intoxication, injury severity and Glasgow Coma Score in assault patients
Injury
(1995) - et al.
Positive correlation between blood alcohol level and ISS on road trauma
Injury
(1994) Alcohol and the driver
JAMA
(1986)Alcohol and vigilance performance: a review
Psychopharmacology
(1995)- et al.
Alcohol and injury: a case-crossover study
Arch Fam Med
(1995) The effect of acute, oral ethanol on cardiovascular performance before and after blunt cardiac trauma
J Trauma
(1987)- et al.
Early post-traumatic changes in hemodynamics and pulmonary ventilation in alcohol-pretreated pigs
J Trauma
(1987)
Effects of ethanol in traumatic brain injury
J Neurotrauma
The effect of acute alcohol intoxication and chronic alcohol abuse on outcome from trauma
JAMA
Cited by (70)
The role of alcohol and other drugs on emergency department traumatic injury mortality in the United States
2021, Drug and Alcohol DependenceTraumatic pedestrian and bicyclist injuries associated with intoxication
2021, American Journal of Emergency MedicineCitation Excerpt :Although we did exclude individuals who received fentanyl by EMS personnel and were positive for fentanyl only, we were unable to obtain full documentation on each patient. Motor vehicle crashes with drugs or alcohol involved are significantly more dangerous than those without, although most of these studies focus on the drivers of these vehicles [2,17-20]. Alcohol and drugs also make traffic-related accidents more dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians [3,7,11,12,16], which our work confirms.
Risk Factors for Transverse Ligament Disruption and Vertebral Artery Injury Following an Atlas Fracture
2021, World NeurosurgeryCitation Excerpt :Intoxication at presentation predicted the presence of injury to the vertebral artery on both the single- and multivariable analyses. Although alcohol intoxication is a risk factor for increased morbidity in drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents,15 this particular association has not been previously reported. Because vertebral artery injury has been associated with increased mortality in patients without a neurologic event,16 this association should raise the index of suspicion for vertebral artery injury for intoxicated patients with Jefferson fractures.
Alcohol is a predictor of mortality in motor vehicle collisions
2019, Journal of Safety ResearchAssessing the impact of blood alcohol concentration on the rate of in-hospital mortality following traumatic motor vehicle crash injury: A matched analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank
2019, InjuryCitation Excerpt :But, as reported by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), one common mistake that people make is believing that bottles of beer and glasses of wine are less dangerous than shots of hard liquor. Consuming 5 or more alcoholic drinks, where a standard drink is defined as 1.5 oz of hard liquor, 5 oz of wine, or 12 oz of beer, over a short period of time leads to alcohol intoxication above the legal limit, impaired driving [16], and lower compliance with the seat belt rule [17], resulting in numerous fatal accidents. Therefore, avoidance of drinking and driving is the first protective step to avoiding a car accident and accident related deaths.
- ☆
Address reprint requests to Hsin-Chin Shih MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shih-Pai Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]
- ☆☆
0735-6757/03/2102-0001$30.00/0