Acute ethyl-alcohol intoxications treated at the Emergency Department of the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina from 2013 - 2015: Characteristics and significance

Introduction: Acute poisonings are becoming an increasingly important issue for health services all over the world. The most common are acute alcohol intoxications. Excessive alcohol use is considered to be a high risk factor for injuries, trauma and violence and it is one of the major causes of death across the world. Aim: The aim of this research is to examine characteristics and the significance of acute alcohol intoxications treated at the Emergency Center of the Clinical Center of Vojvodina (ED CCV) in a three year period. This research is a retrospective study. Material and Methods: Data was collected from medical records of patients treated under the diagnosis of acute intoxication at the EC CCV from 2013 to 2015. Results: During the observed time period, 3729 patients were treated under the diagnosis of acute intoxication. Intoxications were caused by alcohol in 65.90%. In the largest number of patients (56.41%), alcohol was the only identified substance. Among those who have combined alcohol with other drugs, psychotropic drugs were the most common (76.82%). Most of the patients were male (68.81%) with the average age of 40.00 (±15) years. The average blood alcohol content was 1,87‰ (±1,33). Most of the patients had a blood alcohol content between 1,5-3,00‰, and they accounted for 39,84% of all patients treated. Blood alcohol level between 0,5-1,5‰ was detected in 12.72% of patients. Conclusion: Admissions due to alcohol intoxications are common and increasing in number. This development is problematic not only for Emergency Department units, but for the society as a whole. Special attention should be directed towards prevention and education, in order to decrease the number of acute intoxications.