Citation

Tsai YC, Wu SC, Huang JF, Kuo SCH, Rau CS, Chien PC, Hsieh HY, Hsieh CH. BMJ Open 2019; 9(4): e026481.

Affiliation

Department of Plastic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026481

PMID

31005931

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to profile the epidemiological changes of driving under the influence (DUI) in southern Taiwan after the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit was lowered from 50 to 30 mg/dL in 2013. SETTING: Level 1 trauma medical centre in southern Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Data from 7447 patients (4375 males and 3072 females) were retrieved from the trauma registry system of a single trauma centre to examine patient characteristics (gender, age and BAC), clinical outcome variables (Abbreviated Injury Score, Injury Severity Score and mortality) and vehicular crash-related factors (vehicle type, airbag use in car crashes, helmet use in motorcycle crashes and time of crash) before and after the BAC limit change.

RESULTS: Our results indicated that the percentage of DUI patients significantly declined from 10.99% (n=373) to 6.64% (n=269) after the BAC limit was lowered. Airbag use in car crashes (OR: 0.30, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.88, p=0.007) and helmet use in motorcycle crashes (OR: 0.20, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.26, p<0.001) was lower in DUI patients compared with non-DUI patients after the BAC limit change, with significant negative correlation. DUI behaviour increased crash mortality risk before the BAC limit change (OR: 4.33, 95% CI 2.20 to 8.54), and even more so after (OR: 5.60, 95% CI 3.16 to 9.93). The difference in ORs for mortality before and after the change in the BAC legal limit was not significant (p=0.568).

CONCLUSION: This study revealed that lowering the BAC limit to 30 mg/dL significantly reduced the number of DUI events, but failed to result in a significant reduction in mortality in these trauma patients.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Language: en

Keywords

airbag; alcohol; driving under the influence; helmet use; mortality