Victims of alcohol-related external causes treated in urgency and emergency medical services: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

This is a cross-sectional study aimed to characterize the care and profile of victims of alcohol-related external causes in the main urgency and emergency service in São Tomé and Príncipe. All 672 victims seen between April 2014 and April 2015 who were under the influence of alcohol had their medical records assessed. Most of them were young (56.8%), male (76.5%), had care provided mostly at night (38.8%) on weekends (75.1%), and received hospital discharge (62.9%). Regarding the type of external cause, aggressions were the main cause of medical services (40.0%), followed by workplace or commuting (30.5%) and traffic accidents (29.1%). The results of this pioneering study in São Tomé and Príncipe show the external causes, aggressions in particular, as a serious public health problem in the country that demands many hospital services.