Ethanol Intoxication and Road Accident Trauma Statistics in a Tertiary Hospital Complex of Cotonou City in Benin Republic

Road traffic accidents are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Benin Republic, in other words, a serious public health problem here. Consumption of alcoholic drinks is known as an important risk factor for road accidents. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine alcohol ingestion and its relationship with victims of road traffic accidents in Cotonou City, Benin. It is a descriptive and analytic study which carried out during January-June 2016. In this study, ethanol concentration was measured in the victims of traffic accidents’ blood. Information related to the injured people, their social characteristics, circumstances of accident occurrence, and the outcomes were also collected. In this study, 80 victims of road accidents were included. Most of the victims were men (64%), youth under 40 years (70%), and motorcyclists (83%). The overall prevalence of ethanol ingestion was 55% (64% in motorcyclists and 25% in motorists). Approximately, 16% of them were involved in fatal accidents. There was no association between ethanol ingestion frequency and factors such as the age of the injured, condition of the injured at the time of the accident, time of accident, and road condition on which the accident happened. This study indicated that a lot of traffic accident victims had consumed alcoholic drinks shortly before the accident in Benin.