| Author(s) |
Petal Petersen Williams, PhD; Megan Prinsloo, PhD; Margaret M Peden, PhD; Ian Neethling, PhD; Shibe Mhlongo, MSc; Sithombo Maqungo, MBChB, FC Ortho, MMed; Charles Parry, PhD; Richard Matzopoulos, PhD |
| Abstract |
Background: The burden of alcohol use among patients with trauma and the relative injury risks is not routinely measured in
South Africa. Given the prominent burden of alcohol on hospital trauma departments, South Africa needs practical, cost-effective,
and accurate alcohol diagnostic tools for testing, surveillance, and clinical management of patients with trauma.
Objective: This study aims to validate alcohol diagnostics for injury-related trauma and assess its use for improving national
health practice and policy.
Methods: The Alcohol Diagnostic Validation for Injury-Related Trauma study will use mixed methods across 3 work packages.
Five web-based focus group discussions will be conducted with 6 to 8 key stakeholders, each across 4 areas of expertise (clinical,
academic, policy, and operational) to determine the type of alcohol information that will be useful for different stakeholders in
the injury prevention and health care sectors. We will then conduct a small pilot study followed by a validation study of alcohol
diagnostic tools (clinical assessment, breath analysis, and fingerprick blood) against enzyme immunoassay blood concentration
analysis in a tertiary hospital trauma setting with 1000 patients. Finally, selected alcohol diagnostic tools will be tested in a district
hospital setting with a further 1000 patients alongside community-based participatory research on the use of the selected tools.
Results: Pilot data are being collected, and the protocol will be modified based on the results.
Conclusions: Through this project, we hope to identify and validate the most appropriate methods of diagnosing alcohol-related
injury and violence in a clinical setting. The findings from this study are likely to be highly relevant and could influence our
primary beneficiaries—policy makers and senior health clinicians—to adopt new practices and policies around alcohol testing |
