The number of US college students who drive while intoxicated has risen to 2.8 million, new study findings indicate.

In addition, the number of students accidentally killed by injuries related to alcohol, including car accidents, increased by 6 percent to more than 1700 each year, the authors add.

“Even with the most conservative estimates, the numbers are staggering,” lead author Dr. Ralph Hingson of Boston University in Massachusetts told AMN Health.

Heavy drinking is a regular habit for many college students, studies show. A 1999 survey found that nearly one-quarter of college students say they binge drink - defined as at least 5 drinks for men and 4 drinks for women in one session - at least three times in a two-week period.

To investigate whether more college students are putting themselves at risk by drinking, Hingson and his team reviewed data collected by various surveys and federal agencies on 18-24-year olds in 1998 and 2001, about drinking habits, injury rates and accidental deaths.

Reporting in the 2005 issue of the Annual Review of Public Health, the authors found that college students were more likely to both binge drink and drive while intoxicated than 18- to 24-year-olds who were not attending college.

In 1998, 1575 college students were accidentally killed as a result of alcohol-related injuries. In 2001, that number reached 1717. Factoring in the change in the number of students enrolled in college, the authors calculated that the rate of accidental, fatal injuries related to alcohol increased among college students by 6 percent from 1998 to 2001.

In 2001, close to 600,000 students were injured as a result of alcohol, and even more were assaulted by another intoxicated student.

These findings suggest that colleges need to consider “new approaches to address this issue,” Hingson said in an interview.

For instance, he suggested that schools cooperate with local police to enforce underage drinking laws, and blood alcohol limits while driving.

Previous research has also shown that screening people and providing those at risk of alcohol problems with counseling can reduce the risk of alcohol-related problems, Hingson said.

All of these interventions require time and effort, but these data show that more time and effort is desperately needed, said the researcher, who is also based at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health.

“I’m hopeful that we’re finally getting people’s attention,” Hingson said.

SOURCE: Annual Review of Public Health, 2005.