Worldwide Prevalence of Alcohol Use in Non-Fatally Injured Motor Vehicle Drivers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Drunk driving is an important risk factor significantly contributing to traffic accidents and their associated lethality. This meta-analysis of observational studies aims to provide the estimates of drunk driving prevalence in non-lethally injured motor vehicle drivers in relation to the world region, blood alcohol concentration (BAC), and quality of the primary study. A systematic search for observational studies that examined the prevalence of drunk driving in injured drivers was performed, and 17 studies comprising 232,198 drivers were included in the pooled analysis. The pooled prevalence of drunk driving in injured drivers was found to be 16.6% (95% CI: 12.8–20.3%; I2 = 99.87%, p < 0.001). In addition, the prevalence of alcohol use ranged from 5.5% (95% CI: 0.8–10.1%) in the Middle East, North Africa, and Greater Arabia region to 30.6% (95% CI: 24.6–36.5%) in the Asia region. As for the subgroups with different thresholds of BAC, the maximum value of 34.4% (95% CI: 28.5–40.3%) was found for a dose of 0.3 g/L. The prevalence of alcohol use reported by high-quality studies was 15.7% (95% CI: 11.1–20.3%), compared to 17.7% (95% CI: 11.3–24.2%) reported by studies of moderate quality. These findings could inform law enforcement efforts to promote road safety.

Unveiling the road to safety: Understanding the factors influencing motorcycle accidents among riders in rural Chiang Mai, Thailand

“…Alcohol use is one of the most recognized risks in traffic accidents. According to meta-analysis research by Kassyn L. et al [ 16 ], alcohol intake among injured drivers was most common in Asia (30.6 %, 95 % CI: 24.6–36.5 %). The prevalence of alcohol intake in this study was higher than the results of the meta-analysis.…”

“…Three aspects of contributing variables to motorcycle accidents are vehicle factors [ [9] , [10] , [11] ] (engine capacity and vehicle visibility), environmental factors (road, weather, light, etc. ), and personal factors [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] ] (risky behavior, attitude, gender, age, etc.). Risky driving behaviors and the rider's attitude towards riding behavior are among the main associated factors in motorcycle accidents, such as riding after alcohol consumption [ 14 , 16 ], not wearing a helmet [ 18 ], disobeying traffic signals [ [12] , [13] , [14] , 17 ], and mobile phone use while driving [ 15 ].…”

“…Alcohol use is one of the most recognized risks of traffic accidents [ 16 ]. A Norwegian study in 2015 also reported that 27.1 % of motorcycle riders who died in road crashes had alcohol or drugs in their blood samples, and among riders who lost their lives in single or multiple-vehicle accidents, alcohol was detected in 44.6 % [ 19 ].…”