Alcohol and children: clinical and forensic study

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the differences in the clinical pictures in the group of alcohol intoxication (without the loss of conscious) and alcohol poisoning (with the loss of conscious).

AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the clinical differences in the groups of alcohol intoxication (without loss of consciousness) and alcohol poisoning (with loss of consciousness) and determine the level of blood ethanol concentrations in children and adolescents from alcohol intake that causes a loss of consciousness, which means ethanol poisoning occurrence, and finally, offer practical recommendations for forensic doctors in cases of alcohol poisoning in children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The total amount of data was a combination of two studied populations: population No. 1 from the archive of the Bureau and population No. 2 from the Children’s Clinical Hospital No. 13 named after N.F. Filatov. The study is a retrospective population-based and prospective (observational) cross-sectional study. Data were grouped as (1) persons whose alcohol intake did not cause significant health disorders (alcohol intoxication) and (2) persons whose alcohol intake caused the onset of coma, respiratory arrest, or death (alcohol poisoning). Urine screening for psychoactive and narcotic substances was conducted using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

RESULTS: The data set included 67 minors aged 11–17 years. Blood and urine ethanol levels of males and blood of females were significantly higher than in patients with alcohol intoxication. The objective status of patients was the same. No differences were found in alcohol pharmacokinetics (resorption and elimination), as well as the instrumental parameter readings. The present study revealed that alcohol intoxication and poisoning were not associated with dangerous changes in such parameters as systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate.

CONCLUSION: The results showed that ethanol poisoning in children aged 11–17 years old developed at an ethanol concentration of 2.61 g/L in the blood and 3.01 g/L in the urine. Additionally, no significant differences were found in the instrumental parameters.

About the authors

Semyon S. Plis

Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute

Email: SSPlis.work@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0232-0425
SPIN-code: 4347-1925
Russian Federation, Moscow

Liliya A. Kovalenko

Filatov N.F. Children’s City Hospital; Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education

Email: lyla72@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6704-1830
SPIN-code: 7043-7743

MD, Cand. Sci. (Med.)

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Olesya V. Veselkina

Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute; Russian Centre of Forensic Medical Expertise

Email: ves-olesya@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9486-5421
SPIN-code: 9188-2988
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Dmitry M. Dolginov

Filatov N.F. Children’s City Hospital

Email: ddm2@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0274-7461

MD, Cand. Sci. (Med.)

Russian Federation, Moscow

Yury N. Ostapenko

Research and Applied Toxicology Centre

Email: rtiac@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7578-911X
SPIN-code: 5446-6252

MD, Cand. Sci. (Med.)

Russian Federation, Moscow

Vasily V. Vlassov

Higher School of Economics

Email: vvlassov@hse.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5203-549X
SPIN-code: 9178-2868

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow

Vladimir A. Klevno

Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute

Author for correspondence.
Email: vladimir.klevno@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5693-4054
SPIN-code: 2015-6548

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. Alcohol concentration in blood and urine in groups 1 and 2 (median, 5th and 95th percentiles).

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Copyright (c) 2022 Plis S.S., Kovalenko L.A., Veselkina O.V., Dolginov D.M., Ostapenko Y.N., Vlassov V.V., Klevno V.A.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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