Alcohol Related Acute Presentations in Emergency Department of a tertiary care center in Nepal

Introduction: The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in many disease andinjury conditions. A causal relationship exists between harmful use of alcoholand a range of mental and behavioral disorders, other noncommunicableconditions and injuries. Alcohol consumption is one of the most commoncauses of visit to the emergency department in different hospitals across Nepal.This study aims to identify the proportion and characteristics of different alcoholrelated acute presentations in the emergency department. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the patientsaged 18 years or more presenting to Emergency Department of BPKIHS duringthe period of 1 year from 7th February 2018 to 6th February 2019. Purposivesampling was done. Informed and written consent was taken from the patientsfollowed by interviews and questionnaires. Data analysis was done using SPSSversion 24.0. Result: A total of 700 patients were included in the study of which 75.3% were maleand 24.7% female. Most of the patients with alcohol related acute presentationwere from the age group of 20-64 years, with vast majority comprising fromworking population. A total of 43.7% cases were labeled Medico-legal. 44.6%cases were trauma-related. Road Traffic Accident and Physical assault beingthe most common among them, followed by fall from height. 55.4% caseswere non- trauma related; pain abdomen was the most common presentingcomplaint. Among the studied cases, 35.1 % were consuming other substancesalong with alcohol and smoking was most common. 74.9% cases weredischarged after primary treatment and 23.7% cases were admitted to differentdepartments of BPKIHS for needful management. Conclusion: More than 91% of cases evaluated has hazardous drinking patternand mean AUDIT score is 12.35. These huge figures are alarming enough toplan and implement alcohol production, distribution and safe consumptionguideline at local and national level. Further study is needed to explore realburden of alcohol in society.