Prevalence of alcohol-related injury in the Americas

The countries and regions in the Americas are marked by large differences in societal drinking patterns and a great diversity of policy restrictions against alcohol use. Explored here is the prevalence rate of alcohol-related injury among emergency room patients (ER) across 10 countries in the Americas, as well as its association with drinking patterns and alcohol policies. Data analyzed are derived from ER patients in Canada, U.S., Mexico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Guyana, Brazil and Argentina. The sample consists of 8,380 injured patients (6,106 drinkers) across 38 ER sites in 21 studies. Alcohol-related injury was measured by any self-reported drinking prior to injury. Prevalence rates of alcohol use prior to injury ranged from 13-24% across the 10 countries. Alcohol use was most prevalent for violence-related injuries, ranging from 30-70%; followed by alcohol-related traffic injuries (12-26%). Hierarchical linear models found that after controlling for individual usual volume and drinking pattern, rates of alcohol-related injury were significantly associated with aggregate-level detrimental drinking pattern and alcohol policy measures (drink driving and access to alcohol). The countries and regions with a greater detrimental pattern had a greater likelihood of alcohol-related injuries among injured drinkers. Conversely, countries with more restrictive alcohol policies had a lower likelihood of alcohol-related injuries. The data suggest ways in which these large differences in alcohol-related injuries across countries in the Americas might be impacted by societal drinking pattern and country-specific alcohol control polices, stressing the need for the implementation of more effective alcohol policies in prevention of alcohol-related injury.