Racial and ethnic differences in patients involved in alcohol-impaired motor vehicle crashes and its related clinical outcomes among various age groups in the U.S.

Objective(s): 1) to determine whether the proportion of alcohol-impaired patients involved in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) varies by race/ethnicity within different age groups; 2) to explore the relationship between alcohol impairment, race/ethnicity and clinical outcomes among patients involved in MVCs across age groups.Methods: The 2012 National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) queried for patients aged 16-55 involved in MVCs who received a blood ethanol test on admission.Results: Of the 44,216 patients involved in MVC, 68% were White, 14% Black, and 13% were Hispanic. About 36% were 16-25 years old, and 19% were 46-55 years old. Alcohol-impaired patients constituted 34% of the patients. The multiple logistic regression analysis of HLOS ≥ 2 days revealed that, when controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, insurance status, and the interaction between alcohol impairment and age as well as alcohol impairment and race/ethnicity, alcohol impairment positivity carried a 15% increase in probability of HLOS ≥ 2 days (OR 1.15, p < 0.0001). Additionally, using the 16-25 age group as reference, each of the older age groupings showed an increased probability of HLOS ≥ 2 days with ORs of 1.15, 1.32, and 1.51 for ages 26-35, 36-45, and 46-55, respectively (p-values < 0.0001). Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians/others were less likely than Whites to have HLOS ≥ 2 days with OR of 0.88, 0.89, and 0.88, respectively (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the clinical outcome of mortality between races/ethnicities and alcohol-impaired driving.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the proportions of alcohol-impaired driving and the associated clinical outcomes vary among race/ethnic groups in different age groups. More research is needed to determine the reasons for the observed differences in these vulnerable sub-groups.

Drinking and Driving among Recent Latino Immigrants: The Impact of Neighborhoods and Social Support.

Latinos are disproportionately impacted by drinking and driving arrests and alcohol-related fatal crashes. Why, and how, these disparities occur remains unclear. The neighborhood environments that recent Latino immigrants encounter in their host communities can potentially influence health behaviors over time, including the propensity to engage in drinking and driving. This cross-sectional study utilizes a sample of 467 documented and undocumented adult recent Latino immigrants in the United States to answer the following research questions: (a) How do neighborhood-level factors, combined with social support, impact drinking and driving risk behaviors?; and (b) Does acculturative stress moderate the effects of those associations? Results indicate neighborhood-level factors (informal social control and social capital) have protective effects against drinking and driving risk behaviors via the mediating mechanism of social support. Acculturative stress moderated associations between neighborhood informal social control and social support, whereby the protective effects of informal social control on social support were not present for those immigrants with higher levels of acculturative stress. Our findings contribute to the limited knowledge of drinking and driving among Latino immigrants early in the immigration process and suggest that, in the process of developing prevention programs tailored to Latino immigrants, greater attention must be paid to neighborhood-level factors.

Drinking and Driving Among Undocumented Latino Immigrants in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

There is concern that by failing to understand fully the risks associated with driving under the influence (DUI), some Latino immigrants-undocumented in particular-may be overrepresented in alcohol-related crashes. Until now, data on undocumented immigrants has been absent. Data came from an ongoing longitudinal sample of Latino immigrants to Miami-Dade County, FL. Descriptive analyses and regression techniques were applied. Compared with permanent residents, undocumented drivers are more likely to binge drink, less likely to understand DUI laws, and less likely to perceive the risks associated with DUI-three factors largely associated with high DUI rates. Despite facing these risk factors, undocumented immigrants showed low DUI rates, partly due to their limited amount of driving. Differences in risk perceptions and actual DUI events between Latino immigrants of different residency statuses suggest the possibility of early interventions aimed at reducing DUI among Latino immigrants.