TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Alcohol-related presentations to the Royal Perth Hospital Emergency Department: a prospective study
JO  - Emergency medicine Australasia
A1  - McLay, Stuart Vb
A1  - MacDonald, Ellen
A1  - Fatovich, Daniel M.
SP  - 531
EP  - 538
VL  - 29
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To quantify and describe alcohol-related presentations to our ED, as part of the binational Alcohol Harm in Emergency Departments study. <br><br>METHODS: A prospective observational study at Royal Perth Hospital of every patient attending ED for the 168-h period commencing 08.00 hours Monday 1 December 2014. Patient presentations were classified as alcohol-related (alcohol-positive) using predefined criteria. These patients were compared to alcohol-negative patients on a range of demographic and clinical descriptors. <br><br>RESULTS: Two hundred and thirteen (15.2%) of 1403 patients screened were alcohol-positive. Compared with alcohol-negative patients, alcohol-positive patients were more likely to be male (148/213, 69.5% vs 636/1190, 53.4%, P < 0.001) and younger (mean 38 years vs 48 years, P < 0.001). They were more likely to arrive in police custody (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.3-9.5, P = 0.005), and be admitted to the State Adult Major Trauma Unit (OR 4.2, 95% CI 2.1-8.3, P < 0.001). Forty-two (19.7%) of 213 patients had injuries suspected to be caused by an alcohol-affected third party. The ED length of stay and admission rate were not significantly different between the groups. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: 15.2% of patient presentations over the study week were alcohol-related. These patients were more likely to present with injury; one in five having injuries suspected to be caused by a third party affected by alcohol. This is a significant public health problem.<br><br>© 2017 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1742-6731
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.12837
ID  - ref1
ER  -