Work

The influence of alcohol related accidents on health care cost

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Road traffic accidents are globally leading causes of mortality and morbidity. Alcohol is among the most frequently used pleasure-inducing substances in the world. Use of motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol is completely illegal in some countries. However, it is allowed up to a certain level of eth- anol in blood in other countries. Traffic accidents caused by alcohol consumption are known to cause more harmonhealthofindividuals.Thealcoholaffectsnervoussystem. Alcoholslowsreflexesandimpairsbalance. In other words, alcohol intake reduces capability of individuals while using any motor vehicle. This study aims to search the health care cost of individuals who had traffic accidents under the influence of alcohol. Methods: This present study included 657 patients who were admitted to the E.R. resulting from traffic accidents between the dates 01.01.2017–01.06.2017. Demographic information of the patients, their time of hospital admission, medical analyses and examinations, the cost of those analyses and examinations, and their ethanol levels were recorded. Results: 657 patients were included in the study. 460 (68.1) of those patients were males. Their age average was 35.57 ± 15.18. 61 (9.0%) of the patients were seen to have ethanol positive blood. The health care expenditures of ethanol positive patients were found to be 374,75 ± 251,3 TL whereas the expenditures of ethanol free patients were identified to be 283,17 ± 222,72 TL. The health care expenditures of ethanol positive patients were seen to have substantially increased. (p = 0,003). Conclusions: Alcohol intake is known to be a leading cause of traffic accidents that generally results in deaths and heavy injuries. This present study displays that traffic accidents caused by alcohol consumption increases the cost of health care as well.

Source: Disaster and Emergency Medicine Journal

DOI: 10.5603/demj.2018.0017