Alcohol and other substance abuse in trauma patients admitted to ICU in Northern Finland

ABSTRACT

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of alcohol intake or other substance abuse, prior to trauma, on the type of trauma, severity of trauma, and the short-term and long-term outcomes in patients admitted to ICU due to trauma.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of alcohol intake or other substance abuse. Methods: Retrospective, single-center study.

Results: A total of 195 admissions were analyzed and 68 of them (34.9%) involved intoxication by alcohol or other substances prior to the trauma. There were no differences in the severity of traumas, and the types of traumas were comparable, except for the higher rate of head traumas in the abuse patients and the lower rate of abdominal traumas in the non-abuse patients. The APACHE II scores were higher, and the GCS scores were lower among the abuse patients compared with the non-abuse patients. The 30-day mortality was 19.7% among the non-abuse patients, while the corresponding rate among the abuse patients was 8.8%. There was no difference in 90-day mortality between the groups. Conclusion: One-third of the patients admitted to ICU due to trauma were intoxicated with alcohol or other substances. Head traumas were more common in the abuse group trauma patients. There were no significant differences in the long-term outcomes between the study groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Intensive care
• substance abuse
• trauma