Substance use and pre-hospital crash injury severity among U.S. older adults: A five-year national cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alcohol and drug use (substance use) is a risk factor for crash involvement.

Objectives

To assess the association between substance use and crash injury severity among older adults and how the relationship differs by rurality/urbanicity.

Methods

We pooled 2017-2021 cross-sectional data from the United States National Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Information System. We measured injury severity (low acuity, emergent, critical, and fatal) predicted by substance use, defined as self-reported or officer-reported alcohol and/or drug use. We controlled for age, sex, race/ethnicity, road user type, anatomical injured region, roadway crash, rurality/urbanicity, time of the day, and EMS response time. We performed a partial proportional ordinal logistic regression

SUBMITTER: Adeyemi O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10599556 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature