Association between Excessive Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Injuries in College Students: A Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study in Japan

Alcohol-related injuries in college students are a major public health problem worldwide. We clarified the association between excessive drinking and alcohol-related injuries in Japanese college students. This was a cross-sectional study with a self-administered questionnaire. From January to March 2013, we sampled all college students and graduate students aged 20 years or older during annual health examinations at three colleges in Mie Prefecture in Japan. The questionnaire assessed the frequency of alcohol drinking, amount of alcohol consumed per day, binge drinking during the past year, alcohol-related injuries during the past year, and demographic data. Logistic regression analysis was conducted on the association between excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related injuries. A total of 2,842 students underwent health examinations, of whom 2,177 (76.6%) completed the questionnaire. Subjects included 1,219 men (56.0%) and 958 women (44.0%). Eighty-eight men (7.2%) and 93 women (9.7%) were classified as excessive weekly drinkers, while 693 men (56.8%) and 458 women (47.8%) were determined to be binge drinkers. Eighty-one men (6.6%) and 26 women (2.7%) had experienced alcohol-related injuries during the past year. In the logistic regression analysis, binge drinkers (odds ratio 25.6 [8.05-81.4]) and excessive weekly drinkers (odds ratio 3.83 [2.41-6.09]) had a history of significantly more alcohol-related injuries, even after adjusting for age and sex. In conclusion, alcohol-related injuries in college students in Japan were strongly associated with excessive drinking. As a strategy for preventing such injuries in this population, an interventional study is required to identify effective methods for reducing excessive alcohol use