PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - JOACHIM GRUETTNER AU - THOMAS WALTER AU - SIEGFRIED LANG AU - MIRIAM REICHERT AU - STEPHAN HAAS TI - Risk Assessment in Patients with Acute Alcohol Intoxication DP - 2015 Jan 01 TA - In Vivo PG - 123--127 VI - 29 IP - 1 4099 - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/29/1/123.short 4100 - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/29/1/123.full SO - In Vivo2015 Jan 01; 29 AB - 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.