A study on Alcohol Related Motor Vehicle and Medical Consumption

• Main Authors: Ng Chip-Jin, 黃集仁
• Other Authors: Kuang-Hung Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/68071168691961139879

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫務管理學研究所 === 90 === In Taiwan, despite our government’s efforts to reduce drunk driving through a combination of legal sanctions, public education and police surveillance, alcohol- related motor vehicle crashes remain the third leading cause of all fatal traffic injury. The health care cost reported by other countries pointed out that these patients consumed more health care resources. In United States it is estimated to be as high as US$ 148 billion per year, including lost of quality of life, as well as monetary costs. Determination of the economic burden of hospital care from injuries as a result of alcohol related crashes, and how is borne by the public, can put into better perspective the potential savings associated with successful measures against drunk driving. The main objective of our study is to examine the medical consumption and health insurance payment for emergency and inpatient care or for alcohol related motor vehicle crashes and compare to non-alcohol related crashes. We also sought to determine the relation between the injury severity, health care cost and alcohol concentration. From November 2001 to March 2002, we consecutively collected 365 injured drivers presenting to the emergency department after traffic injury. Data elements included basic demographic data, injury mechanism, injury time; alcohol consumption and alcohol concentration, injury severity, total emergency department and in-hospital charges were collected. All data were compared between drinking and non-drinking groups and compared among different alcohol concentration groups. Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t for continuous variable; Chi square test for categorical analysis and a multiple regression model for multivariate analysis. Our results shown that, among the injured driver, 110(30%) were found to have alcohol drinking. Majority of the drinking drivers were male (85.4%) compare to non-drinking group. (60.5%) Most alcohol related crashes occurred between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Majority of the injury was motorcycle accident with self-crashes. The treatment cost, injury severity and length of stay were significantly higher and longer in alcohol group. Drinking drivers accounted for two-third of the total medical costs, yet make up only 30% of all injured drivers. The total medical cost for the drinking drivers within this period were six hundred and six thousand NTD; and 90% of them were paid by our national health insurance. The injury severity and medical cost seemed not correlated to alcohol concentration. The highest injury severity and medical cost was observed in the group with alcohol level within the range of 10-99 mg/dl. The injury severity went down with increased alcohol levels. Our results shown that less intoxicated drivers carried highest risk of injury severity and consumed highest medical costs. We recommended that government should lower the legal limit of driving under influenced of alcohol with stricter enforcement and educate public about the concept of “Once drinking, Never driving’ in order to reduce alcohol related crashes. Hopefully, through such measures, we may reduce both the incidence of alcohol related crashes and its injury, to save lives and to avoid unnecessary medical and society costs.