Blood alcohol content (BAC)-negative victims in alcohol-involved injury incidents.

Aims: To understand better how often BAC-negative victims suffer fatal and non-fatal alcohol-involved injuries.

Design: We analyzed 1988-1993 data from Oklahoma surveillance systems that track all people killed or hospitalized due to burns, submersions and spinal cord injuries (SCIs) and investigate alcohol use by victims and any others who contributed to their injuries.

Measurements: Percentage of victims BAC-positive and percentage of victims BAC-negative in alcohol-involved incidents.

Findings: Of 5107 cases studied, alcohol involvement was known for 4773 (93%), 1882 fire burns (93%), 1560 scald and other burns (97%), 698 submersions (92%) and 967 spinal cord injuries (89%). By type of injuries, BAC-negative victims were 4%, 13%, 6% and 8% of alcohol-involved cases, respectively.

Conclusion: A sizeable number of BAC-negative victims suffer alcohol-involved injuries. Although alcohol is not the cause of some of these injuries, alcohol policy changes probably could avert others.