Study Reveals Increase in Alcohol-Related ER Trips

According to a recently released study, an annual increase in the number of trips to hospital emergency rooms as a result of alcohol has steadily risen, with an increase of 61 percent in the number of visits in 2014 as compared to 2006.

The study, which was published earlier this month in the Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal, found that the number of visits to hospital emergency rooms had experienced a dramatic increase over the past nine years. However, the reasons for the increase are not immediately clear.

In addition to the 61 percent increase in alcohol-related emergency room visits, the study also determined that there had been a 2 percent increase in alcohol consumption per capita, while trips to the emergency for any reason had increased by 8 percent. Still, these two variables do little to explain the dramatic increase in alcohol related visits.

Furthermore, the study did not find any evidence that there had been a national increase in rates of binge drinking, leaving the study authors — four out of five of which work at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism — puzzled about what might be fueling the national increase. Learn More