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Alcohol consumption, blood alcohol concentration level and guideline compliance in hospital referred patients with minimal, mild and moderate head injuries
- Source :
- Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, Vol 19, Iss 1, p 25 (2011), Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2011.
-
Abstract
- Background In 2000 the Scandinavian Neurotrauma Committee published guidelines for safe and cost-effective management of minimal, mild and moderate head injured patients. The aims of this study were to investigate to what extent the head injury population is under the influence of alcohol, and to evaluate whether the physicians' compliance to the guidelines is affected when patients are influenced by alcohol. Methods This study included adult patients (≥15 years) referred to a Norwegian University Hospital with minimal, mild and moderate head injuries classified according to the Head Injury Severity Scale (HISS). Information on alcohol consumption was recorded, and in most of these patients blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured. Compliance with the abovementioned guidelines was registered. Results The study includes 860 patients. 35.8% of the patients had consumed alcohol, and 92.1% of these patients had a BAC ≥ 1.00‰. Young age, male gender, trauma occurring during the weekends, mild and moderate head injuries were independent factors significantly associated with being under the influence of alcohol. Guideline compliance was 60.5%, and over-triage was the main violation. The guideline compliance showed no significant correlation to alcohol consumption or to BAC-level. Conclusions This study confirms that alcohol consumption is common among patients with head injuries. The physicians' guideline compliance was not affected by the patients' alcohol consumption, and alcohol influence could therefore not explain the low guideline compliance.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Alcohol Drinking
Population
Alcohol
Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine
Hospitals, University
Young Adult
chemistry.chemical_compound
Craniocerebral Trauma
Humans
Medicine
Young adult
education
Aged
Retrospective Studies
Original Research
Aged, 80 and over
education.field_of_study
Ethanol
VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin, sosialmedisin: 801
business.industry
Head injury
lcsh:Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid
Guideline compliance
VDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Clinical medical disciplines: 750::Traumatology: 783
Blood alcohol concentration level
Retrospective cohort study
lcsh:RC86-88.9
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Triage
chemistry
VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Klinisk medisinske fag: 750::Traumatologi: 783
Emergency medicine
Emergency Medicine
Patient Compliance
Female
Guideline Adherence
business
Follow-Up Studies
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 17577241
- Volume :
- 19
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....441397d12b2b78d6c3a1e68685b85462