Premium
Alcohol misuse and critical care admissions in the Northern Territory
Author(s) -
Secombe Paul,
Campbell Lewis,
Brown Alex,
Bailey Michael,
Pilcher David
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.15212
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency medicine , epidemiology , mechanical ventilation , intensive care , alcohol consumption , alcohol , intensive care medicine , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry
Background The Northern Territory (NT) has a long history of heavy alcohol consumption with a correspondingly high attributable morbidity and mortality. Aims To describe the number of admissions to intensive care associated with alcohol misuse. Methods This is a prospective case–control study including all admissions to NT intensive care units (ICU) between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019. Characteristics and outcomes of patients who had an admission associated with alcohol misuse (a composite measure of acute and/or chronic misuse) were compared to those who did not. Primary outcome was the number of admissions associated with alcohol misuse. Secondary outcomes included measures of resource use (length of stay (LoS), need for mechanical ventilation) and mortality adjusted for illness severity. Results Over the sampling period there were 1664 admissions. After exclusions, 1471 admissions were analysed, of which 307 (21%) were associated with alcohol misuse. Acute or chronic misuse was associated with 3.7% and 12.1% of admissions respectively, while 5.1% met criteria for both. Admissions associated with alcohol misuse more frequently required ventilation (38.4% vs 20.7%, P < 0.01) and had longer ICU (2.8 vs 2.1 days, P < 0.01) and hospital LoS (9.1 vs 7.1 days, P < 0.01). There was no difference in hospital mortality (7.2% vs 7.7%, P = 0.94), even after adjustment for illness severity, hospital and diagnostic category. Conclusions Alcohol misuse is associated with a substantial number of critical care admissions and consumes considerable acute care resources. Further policy directed at harm minimisation and epidemiological work at jurisdictional and national level is necessary.