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Measurement of Alcohol‐Involved Injury in Community Prevention: The Search for a Surrogate III
Author(s) -
Treno Andrew J.,
Holder Harold D.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1997.tb04509.x
Subject(s) - medicine , injury prevention , poison control , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , epidemiology , alcohol , occupational safety and health , emergency medicine , blood alcohol , environmental health , medical emergency , physical therapy , pathology , biochemistry , chemistry
Alcohol is involved in a substantial percentage of injuries, with estimates in the United States ranging from 3% of drownings up to 50% of fatal traffic crashes. Thus, alcohol‐involved injury is a natural target for prevention efforts, particularly at the community level. Although a potentially valuable target, the measurement of alcohol‐involved injuries for purposes of outcome evaluation of such prevention is problematic. The consistent measurement of alcohol in the blood of injured persons is not a regular aspect of acute medical treatment Thus, alternatives are needed both for epidemiological, as well as prevention, research. This study will review three alternative measurements of alcohol‐involved injury [i.e., (a) emergency room interviews and breath testing for blood alcohol concentration, (b) telephone surveys of self‐reported injuries after drinking, and (c) injury surrogate derived archival data from hospital inpatient treatment]. After comparing the strengths and weaknesses of all three and investigating the sensitivity of the injury surrogate to detect changes in alcohol‐involved injuries, this study concludes that the injury surrogate is a reliable, low‐cost, and valid outcome measure for prevention evaluation.