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Alcohol and Injury in Emergency Rooms in Poland

NIAAA R21 AA12889

Original Abstract:

The aims of the Developmental Grant proposal for Collaborative International Projects are to: (1) analyze the prevalence of alcohol-related emergency room (ER) visits in Poland; (92) examine the association of drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems with ER admission for an injury, including the role of alcohol in the injury event; (3) examine the association of demographic and drinking characteristics with 'ER services utilization among both injured and noninjured patients; (4) test the performance of short screening instruments (CAGE, RAPS, and AUDIT) for identifying harmful drinking/abuse and alcohol dependence; (5) compare ER findings form Poland with similar ER data collected in the U.S. patients in an Eastern European country, where both alcohol consumption and the health care system have been undergoing enormous change. While the prevalence of heavy and problem drinking and rates of alcohol dependence are thought to be high in Poland, along with other Eastern European countries. the data are limited and the prevalence of heavy and problem drinking in ER caseloads, or among injuries is relatively unknown. Data will be collected in two large public hospital ERs in Warsaw and Sosnowiec, which represent two diverse regions of the country. A probability sample of 1,722 patients will be breathalyzed and interviewed at the time of the ER visit regarding drinking prior to the event and related variables, usual drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems including alcohol use disorders, and ER services utilization. A similar questionnaire will be used to that previously used in a number of sites in the U.S. and other countries for cross-national comparison. The proposed project is important in determining the extent and nature of problem drinking in ER populations in a country that had undergone radical changes in both health services delivery and alcohol consumption, the burden of alcohol in ER caseload, and the potential of the ER as an important site of identifying those who could benefit from a brief intervention. Additionally, data from this project will also become an integral part of a comparative cross-national ER analysis of alcohol and casualty, under separate funding, and will be the only Eastern European contribution to this project, in which similar methodology and scientific rigorous was used, in 30 ERs across six countries (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Spain), and which will be the first such analytic undertaking to examine the effect of organizational and socio-cultural variables that influence the alcohol-injury nexus, and the interaction of these contextual variables with individual and event level variables.

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Last updating of page: February 2, 2004