Binge-drinking collegians at high risk for injuries

By Staff writer

"College students who frequently drink to extremes and are inclined to be thrill-seekers are more likely to be physically injured as a result of their alcohol use, a new study shows."

"U.S. researchers found that students who binged heavily on alcohol at least four days a month were five times more likely to be physically hurt than their peers. Male students who had at least eight drinks on each of these drinking occasions and females who had a minimum of five drinks on each of these occasions were considered 'frequent extreme heavy drinkers' in the study. ..."

"'College administrators, parents and clinicians need to focus their intervention efforts on these students -- 'frequent extreme heavy drinkers' -- who score high on sensation-seeking disposition,' the study's corresponding author, Marlon P. Mundt, assistant scientist in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's department of family medicine, said in a news release issued by the university. 'These are the students at high risk for injury. Quantities alone, or frequency of consumption alone, do not show the whole picture. A drinking pattern of frequent extreme intoxication is key, as it escalates injury rates rapidly.' ..."

Full article available at http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/05/22/binge-drin...