There is now a well-established literature on alcohol use and injury in patients presenting to hospital emergency room (ER) services. Two measures of alcohol use prior to injury that have been primarily used in these ER studies are a measure of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), usually by breath-test, and self-reported questions about drinking in the six hours prior to the event leading to the ER visit. A number of studies have attempted to examine the relationship between BAC and self report with varying success.
