Original scientific paper
Immediate Fatal Outcome vs. Fatal Outcome within the First 48 Hours Following a Severe Traffic Trauma – Analysis of the Possible Effect of Alcohol Intoxication on the Outcome
Srđan Čalošević
Mladen Marcikić
Zvonimir Lovrić
Suzana Čalošević
Abstract
This paper is a retrospective analysis of data on 278 persons with fatal outcomes in traffic accidents in Osje~ko-
-baranjska County, Croatia, during a five-year period. The observed sample of casualties was divided according to the
time of fatal outcome into three groups: immediately deceased (139 or 50.0%), deceased within the first 48 hours (84 or
30.2%) and deceased after 48 hours (55 or 19.8%). A comparison of data was made for the first two groups of casualties,
based on the level of alcohol intoxication, and an analysis of the possible influence of alcohol intoxication on an early outcome
of severe trauma, which was defined as immediate fatal outcome and fatal outcome within the first 48 hours following
the trauma. Casualties from the group of immediately deceased had a significantly higher average blood alcohol
level than casualties from the group of persons deceased within the first 48 hours (shown through arithmetic mean of
0.81 g/kg vs. 0.33 g/kg, p=0.000). A binary logistic regression analysis showed that every increase in blood alcohol level
by 1 g/kg also increased the odds of an immediate fatal outcome by 1.92 times (p=0.004). Conclusion: Beside increased
risks of traffic accidents, the collected data showed that alcohol intoxication of accident participants also increases their
chances of an immediate fatal outcome.
Keywords
traffic accidents; fatal outcome; alcohol intoxication
Hrčak ID:
84939
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2012.
Visits: 843 *