title: Alcohol and non-fatal injury in the U.S. general population: a risk function analysis.
abstract: This paper reports a risk function analysis of average daily volume of alcohol consumed and the frequency of consuming 5 or more drinks during a single day with reporting an injury in a probability sample of the U.S. adult household population living in the 48 contiguous states. The data are from the 1990 National Alcohol Survey on a weighted sample of 1150 respondents, 748 of whom were current drinkers. Risk of injury was found to increase with an average daily volume of 1 drink for both males and females and for those 30 and younger and those over 30, and to increase with a frequency of consuming 5 or more drinks on one day more often than twice a year. These data suggest that risk for injury may be increased at relatively low levels of consumption and, if so, that preventive efforts aimed at more moderate drinkers may have a greater impact on the reduction of alcohol-related accidents than efforts focused on heavier drinkers who are fewer in number.
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research Group, Western Consortium for Public Health, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Cherpitel
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Midanik
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caetano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Greenfield
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control