Citation

Moure-Rodríguez L, Caamaño-Isorna F, Doallo S, Juan-Salvadores P, Corral M, Rodríguez-Holgúin S, Cadaveira F. Gac. Sanit. 2014; 28(5): 376-380.

Affiliation

Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.gaceta.2014.02.017

PMID

24725631

Abstract

OBJECTUVE: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of heavy drinking on alcohol-related injuries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We carried out an open cohort study among university students in Spain (n=1,382). Heavy drinking and alcohol-related injuries were measured by administrating AUDIT questionnaires to every participant at the ages of 18, 20, 22 and 24. For data analysis we used a Multilevel Logistic Regression for repeated measures adjusting for consumption of alcohol and cannabis.

RESULTS: The response rate at the beginning of the study was 99.6% (1,369 students). The incidence rate of alcohol-related injuries was 3.2 per 100 students year. After adjusting for alcohol consumption and cannabis use, the multivariate model revealed that a high frequency of heavy drinking was a risk factor for alcohol-related injuries (Odds Ratio=3.89 [95%CI: 2.16 - 6.99]). The proportion of alcohol-related injuries in exposed subjects attributable to heavy drinking was 59.78% [95%CI: 32.75 - 75.94] while the population attributable fraction was 45.48% [95%CI: 24.91 - 57.77].

CONCLUSION: We can conclude that heavy drinking leads to an increase of alcohol-related injuries. This shows a new dimension on the consequences of this public concern already related with a variety of health and social problems. Furthermore, our results allow us to suggest that about half of alcohol-related injuries could be avoided by removing this consumption pattern.

Language: en