In Santa Clara, a low percentage of patients were admitted to the ED with an injury (22.5%) while in Poland, the majority of ED admissions were for injury (63.7%) (see Table 1). Patients from these EDs also differed on gender (a larger proportion of males in Pachuca and Poland), age (older in Poland and Santa Clara) and educational background (a high level of education in Santa Clara and Poland). Baseline differences are also evident on measures of lifetime alcohol consumption (a larger proportion of abstention in Pachuca followed by Santa Clara), 12 month drinking (a lower proportion of in Pachuca and Santa Clara) and drinking prior to the injury (a lower proportion in Pachuca and Poland). Heavy drinking (5+/4+), nevertheless, was more common in Poland and Pachuca. All DSM-IV disorders were more common in Santa Clara, followed by Argentina, Poland and Mexico. Overall, as expected, a large variation in alcohol involvement was found across these four samples. Comparatively across sites, the Mexican sample tended to show lower overall consumption, higher episodic use and lower levels of disorders. In contrast, the
