Alcohol Consumption Greatly Increases Serious Injury Risk for Heavy and Moderate Drinkers
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December 30, 2011
A recent study closely examined alcohol-related injuries admitted to hospital, finding that alcohol greatly increases risk for serious injury. Relative to other alcohol-negative people aged 18 and older, heavy drinkers have an estimated relative risk of hospitalized injury of 1.4 when alcohol-negative and 4.3 when alcohol-positive. Others have an estimated relative risk of 1.0 when alcohol-negative and 6.8 when alcohol-positive. Thus, alcohol greatly raises injury risk.
“Certainly these findings point to the importance of screening and brief intervention in clinical practice,” said Cheryl J. Cherpitel, a senior scientist with the Alcohol Research Group, “as well as advancing public health knowledge regarding the potential effects of even small quantities of alcohol. Injury research needs to consider that even a small amount of alcohol in less experienced drinkers can be especially dangerous when undertaking potentially risky activities such as driving or using heavy equipment.”
The findings appear online and will be published in the January 2012 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.