Alcohol abuseThe number of patients from just one health board region who had to be admitted to hospital as a result of drunkenness has increased by 80 per cent over a five year period, according to new research.
The study, which looked at the admission to all hospitals in the State, of people from the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) region, found there were 3,289 admissions as a result of acute intoxication between 1997 and 2001.
Over half the admissions occurred on weekends and 40 per cent of those admitted were under 30 years of age. Men accounted for the majority of admissions. Those admitted used a staggering 8,950 hospital bed days.
One of the researchers, Dr Declan Bedford, a public health specialist with the NEHB, said what was particularly "disturbing" was the number of under-age drinkers who had to be admitted to hospital.
Some 300 of those who had to be admitted - more than 10 per cent of the total - were under 18 years of age and 83 of these were aged just between 10 and 14 years.
While previous studies in the Republic have indicated that up to a quarter of attendances at accident and emergency departments are alcohol related, this study gives an indication, for the first time, of the pressure drunk patients put on hospital beds.
"At a time of limited resources, the burden of patients being admitted with an acute alcohol diagnosis (i.e. drunk on admission) to Irish acute hospitals is considerable and illustrates that alcohol abuse is not only having an effect on A&E attendances as previously shown, but that alcohol abuse is severe enough to require a considerable number of patients needing to be admitted as emergency in-patients," the study stated.
The diagnosis of those admitted shows more than 400 suffered from alcohol abuse, 268 had collapsed or fainted, 187 had head injuries, 113 suffered from concussion or brief coma, and 112 were diagnosed with brain injury.
"Effective alcohol policy measures, such as those recommended in the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol Interim Report are urgently required to control both the rise in alcohol consumption and to modify the high risk drinking patterns in Irish society," the study said.
Details of the study in yesterday's Irish Medical News come just days after the publication of the second report from the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol which showed alcohol related problems cost Irish society in excess of €2.65 billion last year.