Alcohol and Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

It is estimated that alcohol is a contributory factor in 50 per cent of murders, 40 per cent of road traffic accidents, 30 per cent of fatal accidents and 65 per cent of all serious traumatic brain injuries in the United Kingdom.¹ Among the 65 per cent of serious head injuries there will be those who have been the victims of violent crime, falls and road traffic accidents. The costs to the individual, the family, the health service and society are considerable. In these alcohol-related injuries, the underlying pathophysiology is likely to have an important impact on the subsequent recovery and rehabilitation of the brain injured patient. The distinction between the role of ethanol as a contributory cause of the injury, and its effects during treatment, care and outcome, is rarely noted in the literature. The figures quoted above are now over 10 years old. Estimates of the true impact of alcohol on traumatic brain injury are difficult to obtain as the statistics are fragmentary. Recording of alcohol-related incidents is carried out by agencies such as the Home Office, the police, the NHS and the alcohol-related voluntary bodies. However, it is usual to assess alcohol consumption in head-injured patients, a factor which undoubtedly will have an influence on outcome. The exception is where a brain-injured patient also has liver damage, here alcohol intake will have been recorded in relation to the latter only.