Excessive alcohol consumption very closely correlates with the frequency of trauma. Up to 40% of trauma patients have positive alcohol level on admission. This is not a surprise - drunken people do stupid things and get in trouble.

The effect of alcohol intoxication on trauma morbidity and mortality has been studied extensively. Some studies even showed a beneficial effect of alcohol on outcome from an isolated head injury.

It is also known that alcohol affects your blood clotting system, thus, increasing the risk of bleeding after an injury. This would negatively affect the outcome after a severe injury.

Apparently, the effect of alcohol on blood clotting is different in men and women. The authors of the study published in the May issue of the Journal of Trauma embark on a “difficult” task of getting people drunk and measuring their clotting parameters. I wonder what it took to be a test subject in this study.

Anyway, the male subjects in this study demonstrated an impaired clotting profile consistent with an increased risk of bleeding if injured while drunk. Interestingly, female subjects did not show similar abnormalities putting them at a lower risk of bleeding after an injury.

The difference has to do with sex-specific hormones in men and women. Estrogens which are female hormones are known to promote clot formation. If this difference in blood clotting and the risk of bleeding in drunk patients is significant for real-life clinical practice remains to be seen. I found it interesting, though, that even in a drunken state, women are more resistant to trauma than men.