Abstract
Focusing on the drinking and driving problem, this methodological study utilizes the technique of synthetic estimation to derive estimates for counties where the prevalence of drinking and driving was unknown. Data from 4,737 Illinois Behaviorial Risk Factor Survey interviews were used to calculate synthetic estimates of drinking and driving in eight conties. Results indicated a 4,7% monthly drinking and driving rate among the 607,674 residents in the study counties. Correlation analyses suggest the technique was useful for estimating drinking and driving prevalence. Furthermore, the synthetic estimation method may be applied to assess the prevalence of other health behaviors where prevalence data are unavailable. (A)