ArticleJournal of studies on alcohol and drugs2014
State variation in underreporting of alcohol involvement on death certificates: motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities as an example.
Article in Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drinks (AmED) Use among University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Alcohol Consumption and 15 Causes of Fatal Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.American journal of preventive medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Reclassification and weighting of multiple causes of death: US death certificates 2003-2023.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Development of the DADSS* Breath Alcohol Sensor System for Automobiles: Technical Design and Human Participant Testing.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Re-classification and Weighting of Multiple Causes of Death: US Death Certificates 2003-2023.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic inequities in alcohol-attributable mortality by sex/gender and age in Canada: a 13-year population-representative cohort study.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Prevalence and Characteristics of Alcohol Use in Substance-Involved Deaths in St. Louis, Missouri, From 2011 to 2022.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2025Article
- "When a man drinks alcohol it's cool but when a woman drinks she is a hoe": A qualitative exploration of alcohol, gender, stigma, and sexual assault in Moshi, Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Alcohol and drug presence in traffic crash fatalities before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Evaluation of the fatality analysis reporting system (FARS) and linked medical examiner-vital records data in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington County, Oregon, 2019-2021.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2024Article
- "medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Geography, rurality, and community distress: deaths due to suicide, alcohol-use, and drug-use among Colorado Veterans.Injury epidemiology · 2023Article
- Alcohol-involved overdose deaths in US veterans.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Fall-related emergency department visits involving alcohol among older adults.Journal of safety research · 2020Article
- Alcohol or Benzodiazepine Co-involvement With Opioid Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999-2017.JAMA network open · 2020Article
- Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drinks (AmED) and Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences among South Korean College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Primary Reason for Drinking Among Current, Former, and Never Flushing College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Quality of care measures for the management of unhealthy alcohol use.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe used motor vehicle traffic (MVT) crash fatalities as an example to examine the extent of underreporting of alcohol involvement on death certificates and state variations.
methodWe compared MVT-related death certificates identified from national mortality data (Multiple Cause of Death [MCoD] data) with deaths in national traffic census data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Because MCoD data were not individually linked to FARS data, the comparisons were at the aggregate level. Reporting ratio of alcohol involvement on death certificates was thus computed as the prevalence of any mention of alcohol-related conditions among MVT deaths in MCoD, divided by the prevalence of decedents with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test results (not imputed) of .08% or greater in FARS. Through bivariate analysis and multiple regression, we explored state characteristics correlated with state reporting ratios.
resultsBoth MCoD and FARS identified about 450,000 MVT deaths in 1999-2009. Reporting ratio was only 0.16 for all traffic deaths and 0.18 for driver deaths nationally, reflecting that death certificates captured only a small percentage of MVT deaths involving BAC of .08% or more. Reporting ratio did not improve over time, even though FARS indicated that the prevalence of BAC of at least .08% in MVT deaths increased from 19.9% in 1999 to 24.2% in 2009. State reporting ratios varied widely, from 0.02 (Nevada and New Jersey) to 0.81 (Delaware).
conclusionsThe comparison of MCoD with FARS revealed a large discrepancy in reporting alcohol involvement in MVT deaths and considerable state variation in the magnitude of underreporting. We suspect similar underreporting and state variations in alcohol involvement in other types of injury deaths.
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Registered trials
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