Abstract:
Alcohol related injuries are a leading cause of hospital admissions. The objective of
this study was to determine the association between alcohol use and trauma among
patients admitted to general surgical wards and orthopedic wards in the Teaching
Hospital Ratnapura. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done, among 150
trauma patients over 18 years of age admitted to Surgical and Orthopedic wards from
29th of September to 15th of October using interviewer administered questionnaire,
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Injury severity score (ISS) and
National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC). Data were analyzed
using SPSS software. According to the results a positive association between alcohol
use and prevalence of trauma injuries were noted with a 58%, percentage of alcohol
consumption among the sample and no possible association was observed between
ISS scores and AUDIT scores. Highest amount of alcohol consumption was noted in
the age group between 26-35 years (40.7%) and among social class 7 in NS-SEC
(52.7%). Commonest type of injury among individuals under the influence of alcohol
at the time of incident was falls from height (44.4%). The commonest time of the day
for such incidents to occur was between 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM (66.66%). No alcohol
use was noted among the female subjects. Alcohol use is prominently associated with
trauma in this sample, especially among young males. Interventions to reduce alcohol
consumption among young males could potentially reduce trauma incidents and save
costs for the health care system. Further studies involving larger samples, longer time
frames and more reliable measures of alcohol could add more knowledge into this
association. In conclusion, alcohol consumption has a significant association with
patients hospitalized due to trauma incidents in Ratnapura area.
