Causes, types and severity of injury among army soldiers hospitalized with alcohol comorbidity.

Abstract

To examine the relationship between alcohol use and the cause, type and severity of hospitalized injuries. We used the Total Army Injury and Health Outcomes Database (TAIHOD) to conduct cross-sectional analyses of the association between alcohol comorbidity and the cause, type and severity of soldiers' non-combat injuries requiring hospitalization. Subjects were active-duty US army soldiers (n = 211 790) hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of injury between 1980 and 2002. Alcohol comorbidity was positively associated with hospitalized injuries resulting from fights and falls and negatively associated with sports injuries; positively associated with hospitalized cases of head injury, open wounds and poisonings and negatively associated with musculoskeletal injury; and, overall, associated with shorter length of stay. Controlling for demographic factors did not moderate the association between alcohol and cause, type or severity of injury. Alcohol comorbidity is specifically associated with injuries related to impairment and antisocial behavior.