Beer for brain injury? Maybe

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who suffer a traumatic brain injury from a car crash or other mishap are more apt to survive if they had been drinking at the time of the injury, according to a study published Monday.

The finding "raises the intriguing possibility" that giving alcohol to brain injured patients may improve outcome, the study team suggests in the Archives of Surgery.

Alcohol and driving "is and will always continue to be bad -- it contributes to over 40 percent of traffic-related fatalities," first author Dr. Ali Salim of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles emphasized in an email to Reuters Health.

"However, of those patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury who survive their initial insult, those with alcohol in their system seem to have a slight survival advantage compared to those without alcohol in their system," Salim noted.

Among a little more than 38,000 people who suffered moderate to severe brain trauma between 2000 and 2005, 38 percent had alcohol in their system when they arrived at the hospital.

Compared to people who hadn't been drinking before the accident, those who had been drinking were younger (average age 37 years vs. 44 years) and they had less severe injuries. The traumatic brain injured drinkers also spent less time on a ventilator and less time in the intensive care unit.

And, according to Salim and his colleagues, fewer of the drinkers than the non-drinkers died in the hospital (7.7 percent compared with 9.7 percent).

However, the lower death rate among the drinkers was "tempered" by an apparent increase in complications for patients who had been drinking before the accident, the investigators note.

We'll use personal info as the case study:
One person, totally trashed. While riding motorcycle, passed a VW bug, caught foot peg on that thingy under the door. Was dragged under the VW for a while. Major road burn, requiring hospitalization. Person involved has total recall of the event, and the Dr. said he was lucky to be alive, because he was so drunk he was totally relaxed upon impact.

Another person, totally not drunk, hit from behind. She could see the car coming and knew they wouldn't be able to stop (icy roads).Even tho half of her brain was saying “just let go and relax”, the other half was saying “stand on the brakes! Grip the steering wheel firmly! Hunch your shoulders”. the illogical part of her brain won, and she lost about 3 weeks of memories. Even tho the airbags did not deploy, and she did not hit her head, she had a soft concussion. She would have been much better off if she would have just relaxed.

It doesn't have so much to do with what's in your system upon impact, it's how your body handles the impact. Someday, I will do a study to see how being drunk upon impact has actually saved lives. Of course, I'll have to get funding from the booze companies, as the results would not be PC. Which doesn't mean I'm advocating drunk driving!

I don’t drive while drunk any way...

I’m 52, I learned at the ripe old age of 35 that beer will get you a DUI.

Now that causes brain recovery!

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