Impact of day-of-injury alcohol consumption on outcomes after traumatic brain injury: A meta-analysis

Although a known risk factor for traumatic brain injury (TBI), alcohol has been found to both promote and protect against secondary brain damage. However, it is presently unclear whether the cognitive, psychological and medical/functional outcomes of adults who have consumed alcohol prior to sustaining a TBI differ from those who have not. This meta-analysis examined the outcomes of groups that differed in terms of their day-of-injury (DOI) blood alcohol levels (BALs) by comparing positive with zero BAL (BAL(+)/BAL(-)) and high with low BAL (BAL(high)/BAL(low)) samples. The PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and Scopus databases were searched from inception until the end of March 2015. Hedge's g effects (continuous data) and odds ratios (categorical data) were calculated for 27 studies that compared either the outcomes of BAL(+) and BAL(-) groups or BAL(high) and BAL(low) groups. BAL(+) was associated with significantly poorer cognitive outcomes (overall and on general tests) and higher levels of disability, and BAL(high) was associated with shorter stays in intensive care. More generally, however, most effect sizes were small to low-moderate in size, non-significant and inconsistent in their direction. Although DOI alcohol consumption increases the risk of sustaining a TBI, it is not consistently associated with better or worse outcomes, other than subtle cognitive deficits; the source of which remains to be determined.