Drink-driving and its associations with sociodemographic characteristics and alcohol consumption in Germany: a population survey

Aims: To assess the prevalence of drink-driving among adults in Germany and subgroups, and potential associa-tions with sociodemographic or drinking characteristics. Methodology: Cross-sectional population survey of 5,153 respond-ents aged 18+ years in Germany (June–November 2021). We assessed self-reported drink-driving, defined as, in the pastmonth, driving a motorised vehicle within 1 hour of consuming 2 or more alcoholic beverages. Regression models were usedto examine sociodemographic and drinking characteristics associations with self-reported drink-driving among adults inGermany who drank alcohol and reported driving a motorised vehicle in the past month. Results: The prevalence of self-re-ported drink-driving was 4.1 % (95 % CI 3.6–4.7) among adults in Germany, and 5.7 % (95 % CI 5.0–6.5) among adults whowere alcohol users and reported driving a motorised vehicle in the past month. Lower odds of drink-driving were found forwomen vs men (adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) = 0.63, 95 % CI 0.45–0.88), people with low vs middle income (ORadj = 0.82, 95 % CI0.72–0.94), people living in rural vs urban areas (ORadj = 0.38, 95 % CI 0.27–0.54), and people consuming low vs medium alco-hol levels (ORadj = 0.28, 95 % CI 0.18–0.44). There was no clear association with age or education level. Conclusions: Roughly4 in 100 adults drank and drove in the past month in Germany. This is a public health issue requiring further study and poten-tially more targeted interventions.