Colleges Need to Target Biggest Drinkers, Study Says

College students who drink the most are at highest risk of injury and should be a focus of campus-based prevention efforts, according to the authors of a new study from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The CanWest News Service reported May 26 that researcher Marlon P. Mundt and colleagues found that 30-40 percent of students classified as frequent and heavy drinkers suffer injuries, and that the injury rate among these students is five times higher than that of other college students.

Mundt said that the findings suggest that broad-based prevention strategies aimed at cutting alcohol consumption — such as limiting drink specials at college-area bars — should be augmented by targeted interventions aimed at the most at-risk drinkers: those who report consuming eight or more drinks at a sitting.

“There’s a particular subset of students who are very likely to suffer alcohol-related injuries,” Mundt said. “If we’re going to focus efforts on reducing injuries, we have to recognize that this subset of heavy frequent drinkers with a high sensation-seeking disposition is really putting themselves at high risk.”

Finding problem drinkers on campus isn’t difficult, Mundt added. “We were able to identify them with a simple five-minute survey at university health services,” he said. “So you can find them. They’re identifiable. You just have to be looking for them.”

The research is published online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.