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The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Encompassing All Addictive Disorders
Volume 45, 2019 - Issue 1
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Original Articles

Decreased incidence of venous thromboembolism found in trauma patients with positive blood alcohol concentration on admission

Areg Grigorian MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USACorrespondence[email protected]
View further author information
,
Sahil Gambhir MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Lutfi Al-Khouja MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Viktor Gabriel MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Sebastian D. Schubl MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Frank Nastanski MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Michael Lekawa MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
,
Victor Joe MDDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
&
Jeffry Nahmias MD, MHPEDepartment of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USAView further author information
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Pages 77-83 | Received 03 May 2018, Accepted 17 Jul 2018, Published online: 07 Aug 2018
 
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ABSTRACT

Background: The reported incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) disease in trauma is 1–58% and is considered a preventable cause of mortality. Positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is found in 8–45% of trauma admissions; however, its association with VTE is controversial.

Objectives: We hypothesized that a positive BAC on admission would be associated with a lower rate of VTE in a large national database of trauma patients.

Methods: We queried the largest United States trauma registry, National Trauma Data Bank (2007–2015), for any patient with positive BAC on admission. The primary outcome was VTE and the secondary outcome was mortality. A multivariable logistic regression model was used for analysis.

Results: From 2,725,032 patients (70.1% male, 29.9% female), 1,800,216 (66.1%) had a negative BAC while 924,816 (33.9%) had a positive BAC. A positive BAC was associated with lower rates of VTE (OR = 0.88, CI = 0.86–0.90, p < 0.001) and mortality (OR = 0.91, CI = 0.90–0.93, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: In a large national database, trauma patients with a positive BAC were associated with a lower rate of VTE compared to those with negative BAC. Additionally, trauma patients with positive BAC had a lower association with mortality. These findings remained after adjustment of well-known risk factors for VTE and mortality, respectively.

Disclosure

The authors report no relevant financial conflicts.

Author Contributions

AG participated in literature search, study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, drafting of the manuscript, and critical revisions. SG and LAK participated in literature search, data interpretation, and critical revisions. VG, SS, FN, ML, and VJ participated in data interpretation and critical revisions. JN participated in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, drafting of the manuscript, and critical revisions. All authors agreed to the final version of the manuscript submitted.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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