Alcohol may land you in the ER, but it also may help you survive

Without a doubt, alcohol use can lead to accidents, even fatal ones. And it can screw up the body's ability to recover from traumatic injury, some studies have shown. But it's also been linked to shorter hospital stays and better outcomes after such injuries.

So researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, on the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center campus, gathered data on the blood alcohol level of almost 8,000 trauma patients -- and compared the death rates of those who had indulged against those who hadn't.

Turns out, the drunken ones fared better. Only about 1% of the intoxicated patients died; compared with 7% of the nonintoxicated patients. 

More study is needed, concludes the study published in the American Surgeon, as to what precisely the protective mechanism might be.  (Here's the press release; the article itself isn't easily accessible.)

Also worth noting is this point in the study's discussion section: "The mortality rate reported here is based on patients who are actually brought to the hospital, and the sample is thus limited by selection bias. It is certainly possible that a higher proportion of those who died in the field were intoxicated and were thus never transported to the hospital."

Ah.

-- Tami Dennis

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Pain relief]

This sounds crazy, but I guess it could be true. I hope this does not encourage people to drink and be careless.

[JCAdams]

I wonder how many of the people brought in to the Hospital had been in car accidents. Maybe even caused them? And what were the extent of the injuries suffered by the groups? Alcohol makes your body more relaxed. When intoxicated, reflexes diminish, pain sensation is dulled, and you become relatively loose limbed, even when encountering forces that would otherwise make your body tense.

In cases of self inflicted trauma, it's good news for intoxicated folks. So beware Insurance carriers, Habitual drinkers will now demand lower premiums!

Okay, so drunk people are looser , and feel less pain and can roll with the punches better in car accidents. That's little consolation since it's the drunk people generally causing the car accidents.

And, it's a bit silly to imply that alcohol helps one survive trauma accidents. That's like saying firing a loaded weapon repeatedly against an unarmed victim helps the assailants survive a gun fight.

[dice8up]

It does sounds funny.

At first reading, it gives me an idea that, it is good to be alcohol drinker... very subtle and conniving... however, the argument is weak, in the sense that the conclusion given is that of a "wait and see what happens in the next findings..."

Why post such an article when there is not much to glean from.... ?

[truth to power]

Yea baby... lets DRINK!!!

[SFKid]

So many of you seem to lack an understanding of the scientific process. Studies are meant to build upon one another. If this study is never duplicated or supported by studies to follow, the conclusion will fall by the wayside. If subsequent studies reach similar findings, then you have something. Go to school and learn these things.

[Media Scatter]

This is a whole lot of nothing. It doesn't even say if it controlled for the type of accidents... Obviously, if drunks are mainly coming in for clumsy injuries, possibly including the homeless, while decent people are coming in for a whole different set of problems like heart attacks, gun shot wounds, being broadsided by drunks... statistically not enough validity here. There need to be serious controls on any study like this before writing press releases. I've seen better hypotheses than what I see posted here as a study.

[A.L. Hern]

All this does is reinforce the perception that a lot of drunk just live to drink another day.

[Phil]

So no one read the "Press Release"?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001081217.htm

[s.yoga]

yup. i agree that alcohol makes us more alert.

[Bob Meadows]

I'll "DRINK TO THAT"

[Rick]

An example of statistics being worthless without analysis. If you're not drunk and you have an accident that requires the ER, it's probably serious. If you're drunk, you probably just fell down and hurt yourself.

[Degenerative Arthritis]

i hope that people will not drink and drive just because they think there is no pain if an accident does happen. that crazy...