Binge-drinking blamed for rise in hospital admissions

ADMISSIONS of drunk people to acute hospitals have shot up by 80%, a study found yesterday.

Specialists in the North Eastern Health Board area who conducted a four-year review blamed the increase on binge-drinking. While the increase in drunkenness affected all age groups, including the over 70s, the problem was more acute among men under 30.

There were 777 acute alcohol intoxication admissions in 2001 compared with 432 in 1997. The total over the whole period was 3,289, including 558 repeat admissions.

Over half the admissions occurred on weekends and the average length of stay was just under three days.

Just over 70% of patients were men 40% were under 30-years-old and over half were single.

One of the authors of the study, public health specialist Declan Bedford, said the increase mirrored the national increase in alcohol consumption.

The study also found that over 10% of those admitted were under 18, of whom 3% were aged between 10 and 14 years.

Almost half of the women admitted in a drunken state were aged between 10 and 29, while 40% of men were in the same age group.

Over the period there was a marked increase for all the age groups except the youngest (10 to 19 years) and the oldest (70-plus).

"People admitted drunk during the four-year period used 8,950 bed days. We have a shortage of beds and these admissions are preventable," Dr Bedford said.

The commonest reasons for alcohol related emergency admissions were alcohol abuse, collapse, head injuries and concussion.

Dr Bedford pointed out that 14 people admitted with an acute alcohol intoxication diagnosis had died during the four year period of the study.

He believed that the results underlined the need for the implementation of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol.

In particular, he said, they showed the kind of problems that arise as alcohol consumption increased. "The rise in overall alcohol consumption is actually being reflected in an increasing number of people who are binge-drinking and admitted drunk to hospital."

And, while the majority of drunken people are young people there were people who were middle aged and elderly as well.

"The problem is affecting all spectrums of society," he warned.

Dr Bedford said that there was now an immediate need to control the rise in alcohol consumption in the country and modify binge-drinking patterns.