Unemployment, alcohol and injury in west Belfast

The relationship of being employed or not to alcohol consumption and subsequent injury which necessitated hospital treatment was evaluated prospectively in 116 patients coming to the Accident and Emergency Department of a large teaching hospital. Details relating to employment, category and situation of injury were collected prospectively on a standard form and breath alcohol content was evaluated in all subjects. Employment or not was related to alcohol consumption and subsequent associated accidents: 40 per cent of unemployed subjects sustained accidents related to alcohol compared with 8 per cent of employed patients (P less than 0.01 by the chi 2 test). Accidents related to alcohol also tended to occur in public places. These findings represent previously unrecognized associations between employment, alcohol consumption and subsequent accidents.