%0 Journal Article %A JOACHIM GRUETTNER %A THOMAS WALTER %A SIEGFRIED LANG %A MIRIAM REICHERT %A STEPHAN HAAS %T Risk Assessment in Patients with Acute Alcohol Intoxication %D 2015 %J In Vivo %P 123-127 %V 29 %N 1 %X Aim: Patients with acute alcohol intoxication present a serious and still growing problem for pre- and intra-hospital emergency services. Data on the clinical risk assessment of alcohol-intoxicated patients are sparse. The aim of the present work was, therefore, to collect and assess relevant risk parameters. Materials and Methods: At the Mannheim University Hospital, the medical records of 844 alcohol-intoxicated Emergency Department patients were retrospectively studied and evaluated. Results: The patients with alcohol intoxications were predominantly males with an average age of 45 years. Mean blood alcohol concentration was 0.28%. The rate of haemodynamic, respiratory or metabolic complications in these patients was low. In 43% of cases, there was moderately to severely impaired consciousness. About half of the patients were treated on an outpatient basis. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate a low clinical risk for alcohol-intoxicated patients. Nevertheless, it is necessary to provide a defined monitoring standard in order to also be prepared for the few potential complications of alcohol intoxication and the possible differential diagnoses of impaired consciousness. %U https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/invivo/29/1/123.full.pdf