Abstract Details

Title Comparison of Emergency Room and Self-reported Alcohol Use in Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

Topic Neuro Trauma and Critical Care

Presentation(s) P6 - Poster Session 6 (11:45 AM-12:45 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 7-007

Objective It is unclear if alcohol misuse impacts traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery. We examined alcohol use upon hospitalization with TBI using blood alcohol content (BAC) levels and self-reported alcohol use via AUDIT-C. We investigated if Audit-C and BAC levels correlate with future outcomes.

Background It is not well understood whether patient’s alcohol consumption impacts outcomes after TBI. We predicted that individuals with higher self-report alcohol consumption would have high blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) upon ED evaluation and that higher alcohol use would correlate with poorer recovery.

Design/Methods Subjects with TBI were enrolled within 72 hours of their injury. At time of enrollment, self-reported AUDIT-C was collected. BAC levels at the time of ED evaluation were collected by chart review. AUDIT-C scores (0-12) were dichotomized: ≥4 in men and ≥3 in women indicated disordered alcohol use. BAC>80 was indicative of inebriation. The Glasgow Coma Scale-Extended (GOSE) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) outcome measures were collected in a subset of participants (n=37) 6 months post-injury. Wilcoxon rank sum test and Pearson’s chi-squared test were used to compare groups.

Results 147 participants with TBI (mean[SD] age: 44.0 [17.6], 68.7% male, median GCS: 15 (IQR:14-15)) were included. 22.2% of had BAC >80 when evaluated in the ED. AUDIT-C scores were positive in 40.1% of participants. When comparing BAC and self-report alcohol use, 18% of individuals with a negative AUDIT-C and 56% of patients with a positive AUDIT-C were inebriated by BAC. BAC levels were significantly different (p<0.001) by AUDIT-C category, with a positive AUDIT-C associated with higher BAC levels. There was no significant relationship between AUDIT-C and GOSE. Positive AUDIT-C was correlated with lower SWLS scores (p=0.018) indicating more dissatisfaction.

Conclusions Self-reported AUDIT-C aligns with inebriation upon admission for TBI patients. However, AUDIT-C and at-injury inebriation had minimal relationship with outcomes.

Authors/Disclosures
Allison Li PRESENTER	Ms. Li has nothing to disclose.
Alexa E. Walter, PhD	Dr. Walter has nothing to disclose.
My Duyen Le	Ms. Le has nothing to disclose.
Ramon R. Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD, FAAN (University of Pennsylvania)	Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has stock in BrainBox, LLC. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has stock in Nia Therpeutics. The institution of Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has received research support from National Institutes of Health. The institution of Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has received research support from Department of Defense.
Danielle Sandsmark, MD	The institution of Dr. Sandsmark has received research support from NINDS. The institution of Dr. Sandsmark has received research support from BrainBox Solutions Inc. The institution of Dr. Sandsmark has received research support from Department of Defense.

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