Alcohol-related injuries, hazardous drinking, and BrAC levels among a sample of bar patrons.

BACKGROUND

Alcohol-related injuries are a serious public health issue and research has found that alcohol consumption is positively correlated with injury risk.

OBJECTIVE

To better understand the association between alcohol consumption and injury risk.

METHODS

We conducted four anonymous cross-sectional field studies among a sample of bar patrons (N = 917) to assess breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels, hazardous drinking levels (based on AUDIT-C score), and past year alcohol-related injuries in Fall 2014. Next, we conducted two logistic regression analyses to predict alcohol-related injuries: one model used hazardous drinking level as a predictor variable and the other model used BrAC.

RESULTS

Among participants in our sample, the average BrAC% was .076 (SD =.055) and the average hazardous drinking score (based on the AUDIT-C) was 5.0 (SD = 2.6). The majority of participants indicated that they had not experienced an alcohol-related injury in the past year (859; 93.7%). Our regression analyses found that each incremental increase in a participants' hazardous drinking score increased the odds of experiencing a self-reported alcohol-related injury by 1.4 times and as BrAC increased one unit of change (percentage), the odds of a past-year alcohol related injury increased twofold (OR = 2.2). Other covariates (ie, age, gender, race, college student status) did not significantly predict alcohol-related injuries in either model.

DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSIONS

High-risk drinking behaviors, including higher BrAC levels, greatly influenced experiencing an alcohol-related injury.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first examination of BrAC levels and alcohol-related injuries in a primarily college student sample.