Alcohol and minor trauma.

A prospective study of breath alcohol levels among mildly injured adult patients was conducted over a 7-month period in the emergency department of a 15-bed hospital on a U.S. Air Force base in rural upstate New York. Severely injured patients were systematically excluded from the analysis. Three hundred twenty-seven patients were invited to participate. Two hundred sixty-seven submitted both a demographic questionnaire and a breath alcohol test (BAT). Forty-six submitted just a questionnaire. Fourteen declined to participate. Eight patients had positive BATs, representing 2.4% of the study population, or 3% of those who submitted a BAT. Thus, the prevalence of alcohol intoxication among patients presenting to a small military hospital with minor injuries is much lower than that among patients with major trauma. Minor injury may not be the marker for alcoholism that major trauma is thought to be.