Introduction: Around 1.35 million people die due to road traffic accidents yearly. In the Philippines, there is an increasing trend of mortality and morbidity caused by road crashes. Objective: The objective of the study is to show the epidemiology of transport and vehicular crash (TVC) cases in the Philippines using the Department of Health (DOH) Online National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (ONEISS) from 2010 to 2019. Methods: We used data from ONEISS, a web-based system to electronically capture injury-related data from health facilities, store data in a centralized and secure location, process and consolidate data, and transform this data into meaningful information. For Transport and Vehicular Crash cases, risk factors such as drug use, alcohol use, mobile phone use, seatbelt, and helmet use are included. There are also data on vehicle type, place of crash, and activity. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed to explore and analyze the ONEISS dataset, particularly the epidemiology of transport and vehicular crashes (TVC). Results: There were a total of 296,760/894,989 (31%) patients admitted due to transport and vehicular crash (TVC) based on the 10-year data from ONEISS (2010–2019). There was an increasing trend in the number of transport/ vehicular crashes (TVC) during this period, with an average increase of 25.58% cases per year. Most victims were drivers (45.6%), males (72.5%), and from the younger age group (0-30 years old). Fatal crashes were observed to occur from 6:00 pm to 5:00 am while most accidents occurred during leisure activities (32.5%). The highest reported contributing factor was drunk driving (n = 25,537). There was observed low compliance on the use of vehicular safety equipment. The most common types of injuries for the TVC victims were abrasions, contusions, burns, and concussions while the vehicle most involved in TVC was the motorcycle. Motorcycle use was found to be associated with worse emergency room (ER) outcomes (p <.0001) and the highest injury types such as multiple injuries, abrasion, avulsion and burn. Alcohol use was also significantly associated with multiple injuries, abrasion, avulsion, burn, open fracture, open wound, and amputation (p < 0.05). Conclusion The trend of road traffic vehicular crashes affecting mainly the younger population has economic repercussions. Motorcycles are also most involved in crashes, hence, the need for motorcycle safety laws in the country. There is also a need to strengthen current laws and legislation governing road safety and to focus on structuring a systematic post-crash response for both the local government and hospitals throughout the Philippines.
Accidents, Traffic ; Alcoholic Intoxication

PURPOSE: In response to a growing threat of violence in hospitals, we examined a specific educational effort to reduce emergency department (ED) violence in the shortterm. METHODS: Cross-sectional prospective surveys were conducted at Chosun University Hospital Emergency Center during a baseline period from May 26 to Jul. 9. 2003, and during a post-education period from Aug. 7 to Sep. 20. 2003. Questions addressed the degree of violence, the reason for the violence, demographic information about the perpetrator of the violence, the outbreak time of the violence and the response of emergency personnel. RESULTS: After an education program on violence, the rate of violent events in the ED was decreased by 23.5%. A notable change was that ED workers handled the violence more positively during the post-education period by isolating or restraining the aggressor. Almost all of the violence was caused by males, particularly those in their third or fourth decade. The violence occurred mostly on the night shift. Of the violence, 52.4% was caused by the patient while 34.8% was caused by the patient's guardian. The leading causes of violence were drunkenness and delays in laboratory tests and treatment. Verbal abuse and threats were the most concern forms of violence. CONCLUSION: Violent events are frequent in the ED. Education programs may reduce the number of events at least temporarily.
Alcoholic Intoxication ; Education* ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Violence*

Bilateral gluteal compartment syndrome is a rare clinical entity that can be complicated by rhabdomyolysis or acute kidney injury (AKI). We report the a case of a 30-year-old woman without any comorbid diseases who was diagnosed with bilateral gluteal compartment syndrome complicated by rhabdomyolysis and dialysis-requiring AKI, which was caused by prolonged immobilization under the influence of alcohol. Although the patient's renal function recovered fully after 5 sessions of hemodialysis, sciatic neuropathy caused by gluteal compartment syndrome led to permanent foot drop.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Alcoholic Intoxication ; Compartment Syndromes ; Female ; Foot ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Renal Dialysis ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Sciatic Neuropathy

In the criminal cases of driving under the influence (DUI), DNA evidence can be collected from the deployed airbag of the motor vehicle and submitted to the crime lab for touch DNA analysis. The evidence can be acquired when the skin cells are observed on the surface of the airbag in a traffic accident. However, the low quantity or quality of the evidence collected from a crime scene prevents further identification analysis in many cases. In the current study, we reported a case of identifying touch DNA extraction from the shed skin cells from the deployed airbag of a motor vehicle. We managed to collect DNA evidence from the shed skin cells in an airbag using a proper approach of collection and extraction. The 5.87 ng of extracted DNA was sufficient for genotyping and forensic identification, which helped to identify the driver of the car in collision with a pier in the street. In DUI cases and other traffic accidents, therefore, the amount of touch DNA extracted from the deployed airbag can be sufficient for DNA marker genotyping and further analysis.
Accidents, Traffic ; Air Bags ; Alcoholic Intoxication ; Crime ; DNA/analysis* ; Genotype ; Humans ; Motor Vehicles ; Skin/cytology* ; Touch

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption is a prevalent behavior that is bi-directionally related to the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, the effect of daily alcohol consumption on glucose levels in real-world situations in the general population has not been well elucidated. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between alcohol consumption and all-day and time-specific glucose levels among non-diabetic individuals. METHODS: We investigated 913 non-diabetic males and females, aged 40-69 years, during 2018-2020 from four communities across Japan. The daily alcohol consumption was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. All-day and time-specific average glucose levels were estimated from the interstitial glucose concentrations measured using the Flash glucose monitoring system for a median duration of 13 days. Furthermore, we investigated the association between all-day and time-specific average glucose levels and habitual daily alcohol consumption levels, using never drinkers as the reference, and performed multiple linear regression analyses after adjusting for age, community, and other diabetes risk factors for males and females separately. RESULTS: All-day average glucose levels did not vary according to alcohol consumption categories in both males and females. However, for males, the average glucose levels between 5:00 and 11:00 h and between 11:00 and 17:00 h were higher in moderate and heavy drinkers than in never drinkers, with the difference values of 4.6 and 4.7 mg/dL for moderate drinkers, and 5.7 and 6.8 mg/dL for heavy drinkers. Conversely, the average glucose levels between 17:00 and 24:00 h were lower in male moderate and heavy drinkers and female current drinkers than in never drinkers; the difference values of mean glucose levels were -5.8 for moderate drinkers, and -6.1 mg/dL for heavy drinkers in males and -2.7 mg/dL for female current drinkers. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol consumption was associated with glucose levels in a time-dependent biphasic pattern.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring ; Blood Glucose ; Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Alcoholic Intoxication

Many researchers have used cue reactivity paradigm to study alcohol craving. But the difference of craving response to drinks between alcoholic patients and social drinkers was little evaluated. To investigate characteristics of alcohol-related visual cues which induce alcohol craving in alcoholism, we examined the response of subjects to alcohol-related cues considering qualitative aspects. The authors developed 27 photographs related to alcohol as candidate visual cues. Thirty five patients with alcohol dependence, 35 heavy drinkers and 35 social drinkers were shown these pictures and asked to rate these 6 pictures in order of inducing alcohol craving the most. 'A glass of Soju' and 'A Party scene' were chosen as the alcohol-related visual cues which induced craving the most in the patients and heavy drinkers, respectively. The results suggest that the patients with alcohol dependence are more absorbed by alcohol without drinking context such as an atmosphere or situation involving drinking. Heavy drinkers may experience craving in anticipation of being in a drinking situation.
Photic Stimulation ; *Motivation ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; *Drinking Behavior ; Cues ; Brain/*physiopathology ; Behavior ; Alcoholism/*pathology/psychology ; Alcoholic Intoxication ; Alcoholic Beverages ; *Alcohol Drinking ; Adult

Alcohol is frequently a factor affecting emergency department patients, and alcohol consumption is more common among those who are injured. In Korea, the socioeconomic impact of alcohol has been enormous because of traditional permissive attitudes toward alcohol. Juvenile drinking has increased recently; consequently, an increase in alcohol-related injuries is likely in this population. Therefore, we compared the characteristics and severity of alcohol-related injuries in adolescents and adults. All injured patients seen at six EDs throughout 2007 were included. We obtained data from the 'Development of a model for an in-depth injury surveillance system based on the emergency department' surveillance. The proportion of adolescents who drank was 5.0%. No significant alcohol-related difference in injuries was found between male and female adolescents (P = 0.14), whereas in adults, being male was strongly related to alcohol consumption (P < 0.001). Among traffic accidents, motorcycle-related injuries were strongly associated with alcohol use in adolescents (odds ratio [OR] 2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-5.83). Results also indicated that alcohol-related injuries in adolescents showed poor outcomes (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.47-3.81) as compared with those in adults (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.26-1.59). Preventive strategy on alcohol-related injuries in adolescents should focus on reducing motorcycle accidents.
*Accidents, Traffic ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology ; Alcohol-Related Disorders/*epidemiology ; Alcoholic Intoxication/*epidemiology ; *Emergency Medical Services ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motorcycles ; Republic of Korea ; Wounds and Injuries/*epidemiology

PURPOSE: Altered mental status is common to alcohol intoxicated patients, resulting in difficulties to perform detailed physical examination and history taking. With this condition, the development of appropriate tools for evaluation was required. This study was conducted to investigate a better method for predicting the prognosis among alcohol intoxicated patients in the emergency department by modifying the Korean Triage Acuity Scale (KTAS). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1,155 alcohol intoxicated patients who presented to the ED between January and December of 2013. The correlation between admission and demographical characteristics of patients was analyzed. We applied the clinical values to KTAS (overdose category) and modified KTAS (alcoholic intoxication category). The efficiency of two triage methods was compared by using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Among these 1,155 patients, 201 were admitted and 954 were discharged. The sensitivity and specificity of the overdose category were 0.736 and 0.623, respectively. Those of the alcoholic intoxication category were 0.647 and 0.979, respectively. The area under ROC curves for overdose category and alcoholic intoxication category were 0.679±0.020 and 0.813±0.021, respectively (95% confidence interval, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the sensitivities of the overdose category and the alcoholic intoxication category were similar. However, the specificity of the alcoholic intoxication category was higher than that of the overdose category. Therefore, the alcoholic intoxication category was superior to the overdose category in predicting the prognosis among alcohol intoxicated patients.
Alcoholic Intoxication* ; Alcoholics* ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Methods* ; Physical Examination ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Triage*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the enhancing effect of crystal sugar-vinegar solution on the tolerance of alcohol consumption in mice and rabbits.

METHODCrystal sugar-vinegar solution was given to mice or rabbits 30 min before feeding a dose of alcohol. The toxic behavior and percentage of animal death in 24 hours were observed. Meanwhile, blood alcohol levels in the rabbits were measured.

RESULTCrystal sugar-vinegar solution could prolong the latent period of righting reflex disappearing of the drunk mice(P < 0.01) and decrease death percentage of drunk mice in 24 hours(P < 0.01). Crystal sugar-vinegar could also decrease blood alcohol levels in the drunk rabbits, especially 30 min(P < 0.01) and 180 min(P < 0.05) after administration of alcohol.

CONCLUSIONCrystal sugar-vinegar solution has an evident sober-up effect on drunk model animal.

Acetic Acid ; therapeutic use ; Alcoholic Intoxication ; blood ; drug therapy ; Alcoholism ; blood ; drug therapy ; Alcohols ; blood ; Animals ; Carbohydrates ; chemistry ; therapeutic use ; Crystallization ; Drug Combinations ; Female ; Male ; Mice ; Rabbits

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in people's drinking habits and the emergency management system for various diseases. However, no studies have investigated the pandemic's impact on emergency transportation for acute alcoholic intoxication. This study examines the effect of the pandemic on emergency transportation due to acute alcoholic intoxication in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, a region with high alcohol consumption. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted using data of 180,747 patients from the Kochi-Iryo-Net database, Kochi Prefecture's emergency medical and wide-area disaster information system. Chi-squared tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. The association between emergency transportation and alcoholic intoxication was examined. The differences between the number of transportations during the voluntary isolation period in Japan (March and April 2020) and the same period for 2016-2019 were measured. RESULTS: In 2020, emergency transportations due to acute alcoholic intoxication declined by 0.2%, compared with previous years. Emergency transportation due to acute alcoholic intoxication decreased significantly between March and April 2020, compared with the same period in 2016-2019, even after adjusting for confounding factors (adjusted odds ratio 0.67; 95% confidence interval 0.47-0.96). CONCLUSIONS This study showed that lifestyle changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected the number of emergency transportations; in particular, those due to acute alcoholic intoxication decreased significantly.
Alcoholic Intoxication/epidemiology* ; Ambulances ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Databases, Factual ; Emergency Medical Dispatch/trends* ; Female ; Humans ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Transportation of Patients/trends*