Patients with Acute alcohol intoxication (F 10.0) are referred most often to psychiatry or internal departments.

To examine some epidemiological characteristics of patients with acute alcohol intoxication treated at the admission departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine in Tuzla during 2009 year.

We selected from the admission protocols 91(1.8%) of 5 055 patients examined in Psychiatry, and 76(0.5%) of 14 460 patients examined in Internal Medicine admission, who were diagnosed with F 10.0 according to ICD-10. Observed variables were sex, age, treatment they received at the admission departments and the instructions given for further treatment.

We found that Majority of them were males. Patients referred to the Psychiatry were somewhat older (43.2 years), than patients in the Internal Medicine (38.4 years). The most common referral to the Psychiatry was in March 14(13.4%), and November 11(12.1%), while in the Internal Medicine there were 9(14.28%) in November and 8(12.69%) in December. At Psychiatry, 29(31.86%) patients were hospitalized and 62(68.13%) continued with outpatient treatments. At Internal Medicine 40(52.6%) of 76 patients were detoxified, 30(39.47%) patients were referred to the Department for Psychiatry, while in-home treatment was offered to 40 patients (52.63%).

The prevalence of acute alcohol intoxication compared to other diagnoses is higher in the Psychiatry admission than in the Internal Medicine, males were more frequent patients, and patients referred to Psychiatry were somewhat older. The most frequent alcohol intoxication in Psychiatry was recorded in October and November, while in Internal Medicine it was in November and December.