Department of Legal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 455 - Cerqueira César, São Paulo SP 01246-903, Brazil.
Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, P.O. Box 4950 Nydalen, NO-0424, Norway.
Injury. 2022 Jan;53(1):30-36. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2021.10.032. Epub 2021 Oct 30.
Alcohol and illicit drugs impair cognitive and psychomotor skills and may thereby increase the risk of involvement in a road traffic crash and other types of injuries. However, the knowledge on the use of psychoactive substances among injured patients presenting to emergency departments in low and middle-income countries remains limited.
To estimate the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use among patients with traumatic injuries admitted to an emergency department in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Blood samples from injured patients requiring hospitalization for more than 24 h due to road traffic crashes, falls, or violence, were collected from July 2018 to June 2019. The samples were analyzed for alcohol and illicit drugs.
A total of 376 patients were included in this study; the median age was 36 years and 80% of patients were male. The majority (56%) of injuries resulted from road traffic crashes, with approximately half of them being motorcyclists. Alcohol, drugs, or both were detected in 32% of samples. The proportion that tested positive was highest for males (35%), for the age group 18-39 years (41%), for singles (43%), and for patients injured at nighttime (44%). Patients injured due to violence had the highest prevalence of alcohol or drugs in their blood samples (44%). Alcohol was most prevalent (23%), followed by cocaine (12%) and cannabis (5%).
The use of alcohol and illicit drugs was common among injured patients in Sao Paulo; it was likely a contributing factor in a third of the injurious accidents. Alcohol was the most prevalent substance followed by cocaine and cannabis.
酒精和非法药物会损害认知和心理运动技能，从而增加涉及道路交通碰撞和其他类型伤害的风险。然而，在中低收入国家，关于受伤患者在急诊科使用精神活性物质的知识仍然有限。
评估在巴西圣保罗的急诊科因交通意外、跌倒或暴力而需要住院超过 24 小时的创伤性损伤患者中酒精和非法药物的使用情况。
从 2018 年 7 月至 2019 年 6 月期间，采集因交通意外、跌倒或暴力而受伤、需要住院超过 24 小时的患者的血液样本。对这些样本进行酒精和非法药物的分析。
本研究共纳入 376 名患者；中位数年龄为 36 岁，80%的患者为男性。大多数（56%）损伤是由交通意外引起的，其中约一半是摩托车手。在 32%的样本中检测到酒精、药物或两者都有。阳性比例最高的是男性（35%）、18-39 岁年龄组（41%）、单身（43%）和夜间受伤的患者（44%）。因暴力受伤的患者血液样本中酒精或药物的阳性率最高（44%）。酒精最常见（23%），其次是可卡因（12%）和大麻（5%）。
在圣保罗的受伤患者中，酒精和非法药物的使用很常见；在三分之一的伤害事故中，它们可能是一个促成因素。酒精是最常见的物质，其次是可卡因和大麻。
