Abstract
Aim
Injury causes numerous socioeconomic losses. We aimed to discover the pattern of alcohol-associated injury in South Korea.
Subject and methods
This study retrospectively analysed patients who visited emergency departments (EDs) between January 2011 and December 2016, using the emergency department-based injury In-depth surveillance data of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Demographic and injury characteristics, clinical outcome, and injury severity [admission rate, ICU care, mortality, excess mortality ratio-adjusted injury severity score (EMR-ISS)] were analysed.
Results
In total, 1,383,740 patients were analysed (alcohol-use group 143,506, non-alcohol-use group 1,240,234). The mean age of the alcohol-use group (40.90 ± 15.02) was 10 years older than the non-alcohol-use group (30.19 ± 24.47). The proportion of males (74.4%) and night-time emergency department visits (59.8%) in the alcohol-use group was higher. Injury mechanism rates for assault (22.6%) and self-harm/suicides (9.9%) were significantly higher in the alcohol-use group. The odds ratios of the alcohol-use group for admission, intensive care, mortality, and EMR-ISS ≥ 25 were 1.305 (1.287–1.324), 2.403 (2.340–2.468), 1.134 (1.066–1.206), and 2.855 (2.810–2.900) respectively.
Conclusion
Alcohol-related injuries in South Korea have a higher incidence in males, and night-time ED visits and intentional injury mechanisms are significantly higher than in the group who do not use alcohol. Alcohol-related injuries are associated with a higher trauma severity and death rate.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Hye Ah Lee. Ph.D. for supporting the statistical analysis.
Grant disclosures
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2018R1C1B5046096), Research of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. South Korea: 2011–2016. (No role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.)
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Seong ST wrote the first draft. Lee JH performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and prepared figures and/or tables. Lee DH conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, and contributed data/materials/analysis tools. Lee JH and Lee DH authored and reviewed drafts of the paper. All authors approved the final draft.
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Jae Hee Lee and Duk Hee Lee are equally contributed to this work as corresponding authors.
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Seong, S.T., Lee, J.H. & Lee, D.H. A nationwide injury database analysis of severity and mortality in alcohol-related injury, South Korea. J Public Health (Berl.) 30, 2283–2290 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01430-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01430-9