Analysis of Blood Alcohol Level of Traffic Accident Fatalities from 2012 -2016 Under the Responsible Area of Forensic Medicine Unit, Ramathibodi Hospital

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the alcohol level of traffic accident fatalities of the Forensic Medicine Unit, Ramathibodi Hospital and to analyze the correlation between the alcohol level and the demographics of the victim, the accident time period and the cause of death. Data were collected from 245 cases of fatal accidents from the database of the Forensic Medicine Unit, Ramathibodi Hospital from 2012 to 2016. Statistical data analysis was performed by using the Chi-square test. The results showed that among the 245 fatalities from traffic accidents, 82 victims (33.5%) had alcohol in their blood. The highest number of deaths was found in 2015 with 68 deaths (27.80%). Most of the deaths were found in males (80.40%) with the age between 31–40 years old (21.60%). From the database, the highest incidence of death was found in January (11.40%). The accident time period was mostly from 1:00 to 05.59 a.m. (33.50%). The leading cause of death was head injury (61.20%). For the fatal cases, the concentration of blood alcohol level was in the range of 101-250 mg/dL (21.20%). The hypothesis testing was conducted to analyze the correlation between the level of blood alcohol and demographic factors, time period factors and the cause of death. The results showed that gender, age, time of death were correlated with the blood alcohol concentration at the statistical significance level of 0.05.