Alcohol-related admissions to an inner city hospital intensive care unit

We investigated the impact of alcohol-related medical emergencies on health care utilization in an inner city hospital medical intensive care unit (ICU). Data from 200 consecutive admissions to the medical ICU were collected prospectively. The major reason for each patient's admission to the ICU was recorded and the causal relationship between alcohol abuse and the admission diagnosis was determined. Clinical and demographic data as well as the insurance status and cost of goods and services delivered were determined for all patients. Twenty-one per cent of all the ICU admissions were directly alcohol-related, with a mean hospital charge of $52,527. The alcohol-withdrawal syndrome was the commonest alcohol-related admission, with a mean ICU stay of 5 days and a mean hospital charge of $21,336. Of the patients with non-alcohol related admission diagnoses, 61% had health insurance, compared to 42% for the patients with alcohol-related admission diagnoses (P < 0.05). Patients with alcohol-related admissions tended to be younger and male. In conclusion, we demonstrated that alcohol-related admissions are common in inner city hospital ICUs and consume considerable hospital resources. The treatment of these patients is costly, with hospitalization being essentially non-curative. In this era of health care reform, more effective primary and secondary preventative measures are required to control this pervasive health care problem.