Researchers say that injured people with alcohol in their bodies have lower death risk than other people with similar injuries.
The study conducted by researchers at University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public shows that trauma patients with alcohol in their bloodstreams have low risk of heart and kidney complications.
Researchers aren't sure how alcohol protects people. "After an injury, if you are intoxicated there seems to be a substantial protective effect," said UIC injury epidemiologist Lee Friedman, author of the study. "But we don't fully understand why this occurs."
The study was based on data from 85,000 people who had suffered from some injury and had their blood alcohol levels checked at a trauma center.
The levels of alcohol in the patients' blood ranged from 0 to 0.5 percent.
According to the researchers, 3.2 percent of the trauma victims died, with death rates being high for people who developed complications due to the injuries.
Researchers found that heart and kidney complication risk was substantially lower for people who had alcohol than those who were sober. In fact, cardiac complications were reduced by 23.5 percent and renal complications by 30 percent in people who had some amount of alcohol in the bloodstream, according to a news release.
People with fewer or no health complications are more likely to survive an accident, researchers said.
"Even though alcohol is metabolized quickly by the body, it appears the protective benefit lasts long after there should be only trace amounts in the body," said Friedman, who is assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at UIC.
The study was published in the journal Alcohol.
Researchers believe that the study findings will help doctors plan better strategies to save trauma patients.
Drunk driving accounted for nearly 31% of all traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2012, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.