The relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and car, work, sports and home accidents for different age groups

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and car, work, sports and home accidents for different age groups. A secondary analysis of data from a randomized household survey of 10 385 Canadians was conducted. Overall, alcohol consumption patterns were significantly associated with car collisions, work and sports accidents for younger age groups (i.e. 15–24 and 25–34), but this relationship was not significant for the older age groups.

Introduction

Research suggests that young people are particularly over-represented in alcohol-related crashes and fatalities (Abel and Zeidenberg, 1985, Williams and Wells, 1993, Holubowycz et al., 1994) even when blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels are controlled (Mayhew et al., 1986, Mercer, 1986, Zador, 1991). As pointed out in one study, risk factors may vary for different types of injuries (Macdonald et al., 1998). While a relationship between drinking patterns and other types of injury has been noted (Smith and Kraus, 1988, Treno et al., 1997, Cherpitel, 1993), this relationship has not been examined for different age groups. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and car collisions, work, sports and home accidents across different categories of age.

Section snippets

Methods

A secondary analysis was conducted on data collected by Statistics Canada (1994) for the eighth cycle of the General Social Survey (GSS). A cross-sectional survey of the Canadian population was conducted which covered topics such as injuries, crime incidents and attitudes towards the criminal justice system. The sample was restricted to adults age 15 and older and stratified by province and geographic region, excluding residents of the Yukon and Northwest Territories and full-time residents of

Alcohol consumption

Indicators of alcohol consumption patterns were collapsed into the following categorical variables for the analyses: average number of drinks consumed in a week (non-drinkers, less than 14 drinks, 14 or more drinks); average number of drinks consumed per drinking occasion (non-drinkers, less than 5 drinks, 5 or more drinks); highest number of drinks consumed on one occasion in the previous year (non-drinkers, less than 5, 5–10, and 11 or more); and a frequency measure of drinking in the

Data Analysis

Chi-square tests were conducted for accident and non-accident groups with each of the four alcohol consumption variables. These analyses were conducted for different age groups to assess whether the patterns remained stable across age groups.

Results

A significant relationship was found between average number of drinks and the variable reflecting at least one accident in the previous 12 months (P<0.0001). Those who reported drinking 14 or more drinks per week were 1.6 times more likely than non-drinkers to have accidents. This overall pattern was observed for car collisions, work, and sports accidents. Interestingly, however, this pattern reversed itself entirely for accidents at home, with increased drinking associated with fewer

Discussion

A limitation of this study is that drinking patterns were examined rather than consumption prior to injuries. While the study of consumption patterns does not provide information about alcohol impairment in the incident, it is useful for identifying indirect associations between drinking patterns and injury risk (see Treno et al., 1997). A significant relationship was found between alcohol consumption and the likelihood of car, work and sports accidents for the youngest age groups but not for

Acknowledgements

Data from the eighth cycle of the General Social Survey (GSS) collected by Statistics Canada were employed in this study. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

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