A quarter of the injuries to emergencies related to alcohol

A quarter of the wounded arriving emergency drank alcohol during the six hours preceding the injury.

And a third of violence-related injuries can be attributed to alcohol consumption in the previous 24 hours, according to a study at the CHUV.

In his doctoral thesis published as "Empty Glasses and Broken Bones" (empty glasses and broken bones), Hervé Kuendig looked at data collected between 2003 and 2006 in two separate studies in the emergency department of Hospital Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. The sample covers a total of about 8000 patients.

His main finding: 24.7% of the injured had consumed alcohol within six hours of the occurrence of trauma. Of these, 33.3% frequently engaged in "risk drinking episodic" of drinking large quantities of alcohol on one occasion at least once a month, and 13.1% were drinkers risk (on average more than one drink per day for women, more than two for men).