Background: Alcohol and drug screens in trauma patients are endorsed by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. The objective was to determine the characteristics and frequency of alcohol and poly-drug combinations in patients triaged by Trauma Team Activation (TTA) codes. Methods: A retrospective study of a Level I hospital trauma registry was initiated with 14,972 patients of whom 7028 (47%) were Substance Users (SU). There were 10,369 TTA patients: 5396 (52%) were SU, and 4603 (31%) non-TTA patients, of whom 1632 (35.5%) were SU. Inclusion criteria were: age ≥14 years old, blood alcohol level and Urine Drug Screen (UDS) documentation, Injury Severity Score (ISS), TTA code, hospital charges and Length of Hospitalization (LOS). Statistical analyses were performed with one-way ANOVA, Maximum Likelihood chi squared, and Mann-Whitney U tests...............
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