title: A population-based study on the prevalence and correlates of drinking and driving in Hong Kong.
abstract: To examine the prevalence and correlates of drinking and driving in Hong Kong, an anonymous, random telephone survey was conducted on 9860 Chinese adults (18-70 years of age) from April to June 2006. Trained interviewers administered a structured interview consisting of questions on socio-demographic information, drinking pattern, drink-driving, and motor vehicle accidents. The census age-standardized past-year prevalence of driving within 2h of drinking was 5.2% among males and 0.8% among females. The prevalence across age showed an inverted U-shaped trend for males peaking at 8.2% between 41 and 45 years. For females the prevalence was fairly stable between the ages of 20 and 55. The past-year prevalence of alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents was 0.1%, with the majority being in the 26-30 age group. For males who drank, the prevalence of drinking and driving was 5.0% among those without problem drinking, 14.8% among binge drinkers, 37.1% among alcohol abusers and 22.4% among the alcohol dependent. For females who drank, the corresponding figures were all lower at 1.2%, 6.9%, 12.1% and 12.5%, respectively. Higher socio-economic status, weekly drinking, binge drinking and alcohol abuse were independently associated with higher likelihood of drinking and driving in both genders. Among drinking drivers, having a job that required drinking was the only predictor of having had a motor vehicle accident. The elevated prevalence of drinking and driving among alcohol abusers, binge drinkers and the alcohol dependent may portend higher population-level rates of alcohol-related motor accidents in the future since the prevalence of problem drinking has previously been noted to be increasing rapidly in Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: The School of Public Health, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, New Territories, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Jean H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Karli W C
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Adley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.forename: Sian M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult