Four Years of Reports of Alcohol-Related Harm to Pediatricians in the Netherlands

Abstract

Over the four years of the study, the number of adolescents treated with alcohol-related harm increased significantly (from 297 in 2007 to 684 in 2010), up to a total of 1,616. The dominant reason for hospitalization was “alcohol intoxication” (in total 1,350; 88% of all cases). The gender ratio did not change over time (54% boys), but the average age increased over the years (14.9 years to 15.4 years). With respect to the 1,350 adolescents with an alcohol intoxication, the mean blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) in the population was 1.84 gram per liter (range 1.83 to 1.86), with a 1.76 average for girls and a 1.93 for boys, and this did not change over the four-year period. We did observe an increase in the average number of hours of reduced consciousness (2.2 hours to 3.2 hours), but the in-hospital stay of the adolescents decreased (1.07 days to 0.96 days).