Racial/ethnic disparities in the relationship of alcohol-related injury and perceived driving under the influence from hours of exposure to high blood alcohol concentration: Data from four US national alcohol surveys (2000–2015)
Cherpitel CJ, Williams E, Ye Y, et al
Alcohol and Alcoholism |June 11, 2020
Disparities in risk of two alcohol-related events, alcohol-related injury and self-reported perceived driving under the influence (DUI) from hours of exposure to an elevated blood alcohol concentration (BAC), were analyzed with respect to race/ethnicity. Researchers performed separate analysis of risk curves for the predicted probability of these two outcomes from the number of hours of exposure to a BAC ≥ 0.08 mg% in the past year, for whites, blacks and Hispanics using data from four US National Alcohol Surveys (2000–2015). All racial/ethnic groups had a stronger association of hours of exposure to a BAC ≥ 0.08 with perceived DUI vs with alcohol-related injury. Whites vs blacks or Hispanics were at greater risk for outcomes at nearly all BAC exposure levels, and most marked at the highest level of exposure. Whites were noted to be at significant risk of both outcomes at all exposure levels, but the risk was small for alcohol-related injury. For perceived DUI, risk for blacks was significantly elevated at lower levels of exposure, while risk for Hispanics was significantly raised starting at 30 h of exposure. Findings suggest increase in the risk at relatively low levels of exposure to a BAC ≥ 0.08, particularly for whites, emphasizing the relevance of preventive efforts to decrease harmful outcomes for moderate drinkers.