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Affiliation
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Department of Orthopaedics, Childrens University Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin 1, Ireland |
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Abstract
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We report the case of an 8-year-old boy who sustained a fractured femur after being hit by a car while intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of 120 mg%.
An 8-year-old boy, with no significant past medical history was brought by ambulance to the accident and emergency department following a road traffic accident. He had been drinking vodka with an older brother and had stumbled out in front of a moving car.
Alcohol use and abuse by children and adolescents continues to be a major problem. The use of alcohol and other drugs is associated with the leading causes of death and injury in this age group. Because of their limited experience with alcohol and smaller body size children become intoxicated with less alcohol intake than adults and they are less able to recognize and compensate for both the physical and psychiatric effects, increasing their risk of both serious physical injury and psychological arrest of development with continued abuse.
In the literature the number of acute paediatric attendances with alcohol intoxication is shown to be on the increase, most children being between 13 and 15 years. The child in this case was exceptionally young, having been the victim of a high energy, potentially fatal accident secondary to biochemically proven alcohol intoxication; his blood alcohol level at 120 mg% was 40 mg% above the normal driving limit for adults-80 mg%.
This case of an intoxicated 8-year-old boy highlights both the incidence and potentially grave consequences of pre-teen alcohol abuse. Availability of alcohol to minors must be controlled and interventions for the child and adolescent drinker and punitive action for the purveyor are encouraged. |