By Cheryl J. Cherpitel et.al. Addiction Volume 110,  Issue 11pages 1724–1732November 2015

Findings

For the EDs analyzed, 16.4% of all injuries were estimated to be attributable to alcohol, and the AAF did not vary by age but was over twice as large for males (20.6%; 19.3-21.8) than for females (8.6%; 7.5-9.7%). While females were at greater risk of injury than males at higher volume levels, lower prevalence of women drinking at higher levels contributed to overall lower AAF for women. Assault-related injuries showed the largest AAF (44.1%; 37.6-42.6). AAF was slightly higher for injuries from falls (14.3%; 12.9-15.7) than motor vehicle crashes (11.1%; 9.3-12.9). AAF was higher in those countries with a DDP of 3 (18.6; 17.5-19.7) and 4 (19.4%; 17.3-21.6) than those with a DDP of 2 (12.0%; 10.5-13.5).

Conclusions

Alcohol-attributable injuries presenting in emergency departments are higher for males than females, for violence-related injuries compared with other types of injury, and for countries with more detrimental drinking patterns compared with those with less detrimental patterns.