Background: Although the positive relationship between parental alcohol use and children's injuries is well established, it is not known whether parental alcohol misuse is a risk factor for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) of their children and whether subjects with childhood TBI have hazardous drinking habits in adolescence.
Methods: The authors conducted a longitudinal cohort study at Oulu University Hospital. The cohort consisted of 12 058 subjects born in 1966, of which 207 had sustained TBI before the age of 14 years. Data on parental alcohol problems were obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and the adolescents' drinking habits were analysed based on a postal inquiry at the age of 14 years.
Results: Parental alcohol misuse (RR 1.99, CI 1.19-3.33) and male gender (RR 1.53, CI 1.12-2.08) significantly predicted the risk of childhood TBI. Drinking to intoxication at the age of 14 was significantly associated with parental alcohol misuse (RR 1.62, CI 1.34-1.96), belonging to a one-parent family (RR 1.80, CI 1.61-2.02) and mild TBI (RR 1.67, CI 1.20-2.33).
Conclusions: It was observed that parental alcohol misuse is a major risk factor for TBI in children and drinking to intoxication is a common drinking pattern of adolescents who have sustained TBI in childhood.