• Joseph Descallar, David J Muscatello, Don Weatherburn, Matthew Chu, and Steve Moffatt.
• Centre for Epidemiology and Research, New South Wales Department of Health, North Sydney, NSW, Australia. joseph.descallar@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
• Addiction. 2012 Mar 1;107(3):549-56.

AimTo assess the short-term temporal relationship between emergency department (ED) attendances for acute alcohol problems and assaults reported to police.DesignCross-sectional time-series analysis.SettingPopulation of New South Wales (NSW), Australia between 2003 and 2008.ParticipantsAll patients who attended any of 56 large NSW public hospital EDs and had a recorded diagnosis of acute alcohol problems, and all persons involved in assault incidents reported to the NSW Police Force.MeasurementsWeekly count time-series were formed for ED attendances, assault incidents and persons of interest in assault incidents. Cross-correlation analysis was used to determine any time lag in the relationship between the alcohol and the assault series. Poisson regression was used to assess the magnitude of the relationship. Splines of week controlled for seasonality.FindingsThere was no time lag found between the ED and police series. A weekly increase of 100 attendances in people aged 15 years and above to EDs for alcohol problems was associated with an 11% [95% confidence interval (CI): 7-15%] increase in the number of incident assaults attended by police. The relationship was similar and statistically significant for domestic and non-domestic assaults and urban areas. The association was stronger between ED attendances and persons of interest aged 15-24 years (27%, 95% CI: 15-41%), 15-24-year-old males (39%, 95% CI: 16-66%) and 15-24-year-old females (66%, 95% CI: 20-129%).ConclusionsThere is a clear, short-term temporal association between independent population-level markers of excessive alcohol use and violence.© 2011 The Authors, Addiction © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.

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