The association between hospital admission and substance use among trauma patients

ABSTRACT

Background: Alcohol and substance use is prevalent in trauma patients admitted to hospital.

Aim: Investigate the association between hospital admission and substance use for three different injury types among trauma patients according to age and gender.

Method: Prospective cross-sectional emergency department study. The patients were divided into injury groups and compared with respect to gender, age, hospital admission, substance use, and blood alcohol level.

Results: The study included 998 trauma patients, of whom 39% screened positive for substance use. Patients with head injury had a higher prevalence of alcohol use (29%). Patients with head injury and hazardous drug or alcohol use were less likely to stay in hospital for more than 24 hours (adjusted OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.41–0.93, p = .02), whereas patients with injuries to neck/thorax/abdomen and hazardous use had the highest risk of staying in hospital more than 24 hours (adjusted OR: 5.22, 95% CI: 1.47–18.76, p = .01). Injuries to pelvis/extremities were more common among women with medicine use.

Conclusion: Patients with head injury and hazardous use were less likely to be admitted to hospital, whereas patients with injuries to the neck/thorax/abdomen and hazardous use were more likely to be admitted.

KEYWORDS:

• Admission
• alcohol
• emergency treatment
• injuries
• substance use
• trauma

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff at the emergency department, Ullevål for all help with the data collection, and the staff at Division of forensic sciences of NIPH for analysis of alcohol and substances in blood samples.

Funding

The Norwegian Directorate of Health provided funding for the data collection. They were not involved in the design of the study, in the collection, in analysis and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

Data will not be shared due to an institutional agreement.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Norwegian Data Inspectorate and the Regional Ethics Committee in South-East Norway approved the study. A written consent was obtained from all participating patients.

Additional information

Funding

The Norwegian Directorate of Health provided funding for the data collection. They were not involved in the design of the study, in the collection, in analysis and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Therese Rye Eriksen

TRE and LS contributed to the data analysis and drafted this manuscript. STB contributed to the data collection and data analysis. All authors contributed to the design of the study, the outline of the present paper, discussion of the results, the evaluation of the analytical results and data analysis, the writing of the manuscript. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript.

Linnea Shumba

TRE and LS contributed to the data analysis and drafted this manuscript. STB contributed to the data collection and data analysis. All authors contributed to the design of the study, the outline of the present paper, discussion of the results, the evaluation of the analytical results and data analysis, the writing of the manuscript. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript.

Øivind Ekeberg

TRE and LS contributed to the data analysis and drafted this manuscript. STB contributed to the data collection and data analysis. All authors contributed to the design of the study, the outline of the present paper, discussion of the results, the evaluation of the analytical results and data analysis, the writing of the manuscript. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript.

Stig Tore Bogstrand

TRE and LS contributed to the data analysis and drafted this manuscript. STB contributed to the data collection and data analysis. All authors contributed to the design of the study, the outline of the present paper, discussion of the results, the evaluation of the analytical results and data analysis, the writing of the manuscript. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript.