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Biomedical subjects

A Alha

Publications and source records attributed to A Alha.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

The role of alcohol in accidental falls.

Fifty-three percent of patients injured in accidental falls in the evening in Helsinki and 15% of time-, site- and sex-matched control pedestrians were alcohol-involved. Relative risk of injury, if 1.0 at zero BAC, was 3 at BACS 60-100 mg/100 ml, 10 at 101-150 mg/100 ml and about 60 at BACS above that.

Accident Proneness↗

Role of drugs in traffic accidents.

Serum samples from 201 drivers who presented at emergency departments within six hours after being injured in a road accident and 325 control drivers selected randomly at petrol stations were screened for drugs by combined thin-layer and gas chromatography. Blood alcohol concentrations were also measured, and a questionnaire on the subjects' state of health and use of drugs administered. At interview 30 patients (15%) and 44 controls (13%) said that they had taken drugs in the previous 24 hours. Four patients (2%) and six controls (2%) said that they had taken psychotropic drugs, but serum analysis detected psychotropic drugs in 10 patients (5%) and eight controls (2.5%). Diazepam was found in 16 of the 18 subjects in whom psychotropic drugs were detected. Alcohol was detected in 30 patients (15%) and three controls (1%). Drug use appeared to be somewhat lower in Finland than in other Western countries, and illness to be a more important traffic hazard than drugs in general. Interview was not a reliable method of establishing whether drivers had taken psychotropic drugs. Taking diazepam may increase the risk of being involved in a traffic accident, but alcohol was the most powerful risk factor.

Accidents, Traffic↗