Accidents and Injuries from Alcohol

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In the United States, injuries are the fourth-leading cause of death, exceeded only by heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Of all deaths from injury in the United States, about 65 percent are classified as unintentional or accidental. The other 35 percent are intentional injuries, occurring as a result of fights, assaults, suicide, homicide, and other crimes. Alcohol-related fatalities have been estimated to be about 43 percent of all unintentional injuries.

Studies show that an amazing number of those injured and killed every year have high levels of alcohol in their blood. This may be because the drinking accident victim engaged in risky behavior, such as not wearing a seat belt or motorcycle helmet. People who tend to take safety risks, act impulsively, and engage in thrill seeking are likely to both drink alcohol and to suffer from injuries. Alcohol is knownto decrease both motor coordination and balance, and to interfere with one's ability to pay attention and use good judgment.

Emergency room (ER) studies test patients admitted for injuries for blood alcohol level (BAL) or blood alcohol concentration (BAC). In studies done on weekend evenings, when a large number of people would be expected to be consuming alcohol, close to 50 percent of people admitted to the ER had alcohol in their blood at the time of admission.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death from injury—and the greatest single cause of all deaths for those between the agesof 1 and 34 in the United States. About half of all unintentional injuries occur during the course of motor vehicle accidents. It has been estimated that 7 percent of all crashes and 44 percent of fatal crashes involve alcohol use. The risk of a fatal crash is estimated to be from three to fifteen times higher for a drunk driver (one with a BAC of at least 0.10 to 100 milligrams of alcohol for each 100 milliliters of blood—the legal limit in most U.S. states) than for a nondrinking driver. Alcohol is more frequently present in fatal than in nonfatal crashes. About 25 to 35 percent of those drivers requiring ER care for injuries resulting from such crashes have a BAC of 0.10 or greater.

Motorcyclists are at a greater risk of death than are automobile occupants, with up to 50 percent of fatally injured motorcyclists having a BAC of at least 0.10. Pedestrians killed or injured by motor vehicles are also more likely to have been drinking than those not involved in such accidents.

An estimated 22 to 30 percent of all nonfatal injuries that occur in the home involve alcohol.

Falls. Falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries in the United States, accounting for over 60 percent, and the second-leading cause of fatal accidents. Alcohol is involved in 21 to 48 percent of fatal falls and 17 to 53 percent of nonfatal falls. Alcohol may increase the likelihood of a fall as much as sixty times in those well over the legal limit for intoxication, compared with those having no alcohol exposure.

Fires and Burns. Fires and burns are the fourth-leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Studies show that alcohol is involved in as many as half of these deaths. Alcohol exposure is most frequent among victims of fires caused by cigarettes.

Drowning. Drowning ranks as the third-leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Alcohol is consumed in relatively large quantities by many of those involved in water-recreation activities, especially boating, and studies suggest that those involved in aquatic accidents are more likely to be intoxicated than those not involved in such accidents.

Violence commonly causes both fatal and nonfatal injuries. These injuries are more likely to be alcohol-related than injuries from anyother cause, for men and for women, regardless of age. Such injuries are considered intentional, such as those resulting from assaults, fights, homicides, and suicides.

Problem drinkers and those diagnosed as alcoholics are at a greater risk of both fatal and nonfatal injuries than are those in the general population who may drink prior to an accident. Alcoholics and problem drinkers are significantly more likely than others to be drinking, and to be drinking heavily, prior to an accident. Alcoholics have also been found to experience higher rates of both fatal and nonfatal accidents even when sober. Daily drinking, binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks per occasion), and heavier drinking (fourteen or more drinks per week) increase the likelihood of injury as the underlying cause of death. The risk of accidental death has been estimated to be from three to sixteen times greater for alcoholics than for nonalcoholics.

Alcohol: Complications of Problem Drinking; Blood Alcohol Concentration; Driving, Alcohol, and Drugs

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