Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
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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. ⋯ 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.