@article{ref1,
title="Elevated blood alcohol impacts hospital morality following motorcycle injury: a National Trauma Data Bank analysis",
journal="Injury",
year="2019",
author="Ahmed, Nasim and Kuo, Yen-Hong and Sharma, Jyoti and Kaul, Sanjeev",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Motorcyclists who drink and drive are at a higher risk of death and disability than other types of drivers. The purpose of this study was to query a national trauma database to evaluate the impact of elevated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on outcomes in patients who sustained injury following a motorcycle crash. <br><br>METHODS: The National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) data was accessed from 2012 to 2014. Patients ≥ 18 years of age who sustained a traumatic injury following a motorcycle accident with a confirmed blood alcohol test at the time of arrival to the hospital were included. Other variables examined were: sex, race, injury severity score (ISS), and initial Glasgow Coma Scale motor score (GCSMOT), systolic blood pressure (SBP, mm Hg), SBP <90, and comorbidities. Patients with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or beyond the legal limit (0.08 g/dL) comprised the &quot;alcohol positive&quot; group, while those with a BAC confirmed negative comprised the &quot;alcohol negative&quot; group. The patients who tested BAC < 0.08 g/dl were excluded from the analysis. The primary outcome of the study was in-hospital mortality. Univariate followed by propensity matched analysis was performed. All p-values were 2 sided and p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. <br><br>RESULTS: Of 113,843 patients involved in motorcycle crash, 67,183 patients underwent BAC testing. The majority (68.52%) tested negative, 21.14% tested positive above the legal limit and remaining 10.34% tested with a BAC <0.08 g/dl. A total of 29,922 patients, satisfied the inclusion criteria for final analysis. After propensity score matching, there was 100% improvement on standardized mean difference on matching variables (age, sex, race).However, differences continued between the groups on, SBP < 90, ISS and GCSMOT. The hospital mortality rates were 3.1% vs 3.9% (P < 0.001) between alcohol negative and the alcohol positive groups, respectively. The odds ratio of mortality in alcohol positive group was 1.27 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.53) and the absolute risk difference in hospital mortality was 0.008 (CI: 0.002, 0.014). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Patients who tested with a BAC above the legal limit sustained a higher injury severity score and higher in-hospital mortality compared to patients who tested negative.<br><br>Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0020-1383",
doi="10.1016/j.injury.2019.10.005",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2019.10.005"
}