Increase in drinking at home linked to rise in falls

STRICTER drink-driving laws or a shortage of money for socialising outside the home may be linked to the increase in traumatic brain injuries following alcohol-related falls, an injury expert has said.

According to Dr Mark Delargy, medical director of the Acquired Brain Injury Programme at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, in the past five years the number of people that have fallen down stairs after drinking alcohol has gone from about 1%-2% to approximately 5%.

“What was once an unusual referral has now become commonplace.