Alcohol is a commonly used social drug and driving under influence is a well-established risk factor for traffic accidents[1]. To improve road safety, legal limits are set for blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and driving, usually at 0.05% (most European countries) or 0.08% (most US states, Canada and UK). In contrast, for walking there are no legal limits, yet there are numerous accounts of people stumbling and falling after drinking. Alcohol, even at these low concentrations, affects brain function and increases fall risk. An increased fall risk has been associated with impaired obstacle avoidance skills. Low level BACs are likely to affect obstacle avoidance reactions during gait, since the brain areas that are presumably involved in these reactions have been shown to be influenced by alcohol. Therefore the authors investigated the effect of low to moderate alcohol consumption on such reactions. The present results clearly show that even with BACs considered to be safe for driving, obstacle avoidance reactions are inadequate, late, and too small. This is likely to contribute to an increased fall risk. Therefore the authors suggest that many of the alcohol-related falls are the result of the disruptive effects of alcohol on theonline corrections of the ongoing gait pattern when walking under challenging conditions. (Author/publisher)
Abstract