Racial/Ethnic and Gender Differences in Risk of Injury and Life-Course Drinking Patterns: Data from US National Alcohol Surveys

Aims: To estimate risk of injury associated with frequency of drinking and heavy drinking (5+ drinks on occasion) by gender and race/ethnicity in the US population. Methods: Data were from a merged sample of two National Alcohol Surveys (telephone and web-based) (2014-2015 and 2019-2020) on 16,639 respondents, and analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models with age as the timescale in a retrospective cohort design. Life-course drinking was determined by age of onset and questions on any drinking and heavy drinking by decade of life. The outcome measure was having had an injury from a serious accident at a certain age. Results: Frequent heavy drinking (5+ daily, weekly and monthly) was significantly predictive of injury with hazard ratios (HRs) of 2.40, 1.81 and 1.50, respectively, while frequent light drinking (alcohol at least weekly and 5+ yearly or less) was also significant for women (HR = 1.73). For White respondents, 5+ at least weekly was significant for both men (HR =1.74) and women (HR = 2.42). Among Hispanic respondents, 5+ at least weekly and 5+ monthly were both significant for men (HR = 2.81 and 2.49, respectively) and women (HR =2.81 and 3.48, respectively). Among Black women, risk was significant for 5+ monthly (HR = 2.90) and for any alcohol > weekly (HR = 2.72), but neither frequency of any drinking or 5+ was significant for Black men. Conclusions: Data suggest a greater risk of injury from a serious accident for frequent heavy drinkers among all White and Hispanic respondents, and Black women, but not for Black men.