Male drinking and violence-related injury in the emergency room

Abstract

Aims: To present epidemiological measures of associations between violence-related injuries (assaults and fights), alcohol consumption prior to the event, and drinking patterns among males attending hospital emergency rooms (ERs) in Mexico City.

Design: All patients were interviewed and breath tested for alcohol consumption. The data were analyzed using a case-control design.

Setting: Eight ERs in Mexico City that were representative of the types of emergency care systems available in that city (from public, private and social security systems hospitals).

Participants: Cases were males patients (n = 445) admitted to the ER because of a fight or an assault. The control group was comprised of patients (n = 320) admitted to the ER because of accidents that are less frequently reported a alcohol-related (i.e. work-place accidents, animal bites or recreational accidents excluding near drowning).

Measurements: A breath sample to estimate BAG, as well as an interviewer-administered questionnaire were used.

Findings: Alcohol consumption prior to injury was found to be a more important risk factor than usual drinking for injuries resulting from violence, while quantity of usual alcohol consumption was more predictive of violence-related injuries than frequency of drinking.

Conclusions: These data suggest the importance of using more appropriate control groups when estimating associations of alcohol and violence-related injuries so that associations will not be underestimated. More research is needed to establish unbiased estimates of alcohol-related violence.