Patterns of drinking four weeks prior to an alcohol-related vehicular crash.
OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of the study was to determine if drinking patterns on the days immediately prior to an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash (ARMVC) were significantly different than drinking patterns in the weeks prior to the crash.


METHODS
Following ARMVC, 187 hospitalized non-alcohol dependent young-adults (43 females, 144 males) were enrolled. Mean age was 29.03 years, mean blood alcohol level was 165.18 mg/dL, and mean injury severity score was 10.50. When alcohol-free, subjects were interviewed by nurse clinicians to determine the quantity/frequency of alcohol consumption during the 28 days prior to the crash. Subjects reported the number of standard drinks using the Timeline Followback procedure. Total drinks/day were determined, with day 1 considered 4 weeks prior to the crash and day 28 the day of the crash. A random-intercepts general linear mixed model (GLMM) was used to test the effect of several covariates (segment 1 [days 1-26], segment 2 [days 27-28], age, sex, race, holiday/non-holiday period, driver/passenger status, and weekend/weekday crash) on the amount of standard drinks/day.


RESULTS
There was no significant interaction among the covariates. The only significant predictors of drinks/day were segment 2 (b = .322, p < .0001) and gender (b = -.221, p = .016). The positive, statistically significant slope for segment 2 indicated an increase in consumption of drinks/day in the two-day period prior to the ARMVC and the negative slope for gender indicated greater consumption of drinks/day for men than women.


CONCLUSIONS
Persons injured in an ARMVC had a significant increase in alcohol consumption on the day before and the day of vehicular crashes (days 27 and 28) as compared to the first 26 days in the 28-day period preceding the crash. When non-alcohol-dependent subjects are counseled to reduce their risk of traffic crashes, they should be alerted that when their patterns of drinking change, they are at higher risk than usual for a crash.
Sommers
Marilyn S
MS
College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0038, USA. lynn.sommers@uc.edu
Howe
Steven R
SR
Dyehouse
Janice M
JM
Fleming
Michael
M
Fargo
Jamison D
JD
Schafer
John C
JC
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors