Assessing the Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption in Minnesota.

Introduction: Alcohol consumption, particularly excessive drinking, incurs a high societal cost. This study aimed to apply current state-specific data from 1 state, Minnesota, to established national methods for estimating the societal cost of excessive alcohol consumption for 2 purposes: first, to update the cost estimate for the state and, second, to understand the potential benefits of using state-specific data versus a national apportionment strategy for economic burden estimates.

Methods: In 2021, established methods were used to apply alcohol-attributable fractions for health care, lost productivity, crime, and other effects (e.

Predicting trauma admissions: the effect of weather, weekday, and other variables.

One of the challenges all hospitals, especially designated trauma centers, face is how to make sure they have adequate staffing on various days of the week and at various times of the year. A number of studies have explored whether factors such as weather, temporal variation, holidays, and events that draw mass gatherings may be useful for predicting patient volume. This article looks at the effects of weather, mass gatherings, and calendar variables on daily trauma admissions at the three Level I trauma hospitals in the Minneapolis-St.

Sparklers, smoke bombs, and snakes, oh my! Effect of legislation on fireworks-related injuries in Minnesota, 1999-2005.

In 2002, Minnesota changed its law banning all fireworks and allowed for nonexplosive, nonaerial fireworks. This article reports that hospitals have seen a steady rise in the number of patients treated for injuries related to fireworks, including a 100% increase in the number of annual fireworks-related injuries between the years 1999 and 2005 based on hospital discharge data.

Hospital-treated dog bites in Minnesota, 1998-2005.

This paper is the first to describe the incidence of hospital-treated dog bites in Minnesota using hospital discharge data supplemented with medical record review. The rate of hospital-treated dog bites rose 40% during the 8-year period studied, with the largest growth being seen in the number of emergency department (ED) visits. The highest rates of both hospitalization and ED treatment occurred among children ages 1 to 4 years.