Health impact of young people's drinking
Doctors have warned of a "sinister" rise in alcohol-related brain damage in young people as new evidence shows Scotland is set to suffer the consequences of the explosion in teenage binge drinking. Clinics across the country are dealing with numerous drinkers aged only in their twenties and thirties but suffering from brain damage - a scenario one charity described as "the tip of a substantial and growing iceberg". Dr Jonathan Chick, a consultant psychiatrist with Lothian Health Board's alcohol problem service, said: "For the first time, we are seeing people in their thirties and early forties with conditions such as Korsakoff's syndrome. "This is at least ten years younger than the patients with alcohol-related brain damage we used to deal with. This definitely reflects the growing trend for heavy alcohol consumption at an ever earlier age." Symptoms of the condition include difficulty in acquiring new information or learning new skills, and lack of insight into the condition - even a person with great gaps in their memory may believe their memory is functioning normally. Others involve inventing events to fill the gaps in memory and apathy in some cases, or talkative and repetitive behaviour in others. The Scotsman
Teenagers as young as 13 are being admitted to hospital requiring treatment for alcohol intoxication. New figures from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust show that alcohol abuse has seen, on average, two youngsters a month admitted to Wansbeck Hospital in the space of a year.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, relate to the number of patients aged 17 and under admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse between April 1, 2005, and March 31, 2006. During this period 24 young people were taken to Wansbeck General requiring medical attention for alcohol intoxication. The age with the highest number of admissions for alcohol abuse were 16-year-olds, with 11 needing hospital treatment. Figures from Northumbria Healthcare Trust for a three-month period last year revealed that six youngsters aged 17 or under were taken to Wansbeck with alcohol intoxication. Between April 1, 2006, and June 30, 2006, an average of two youngsters a month were taken to the hospital. Blyth and Wansbeck Today
Contributor: Libby Ranzetta Alcohol Policy UK February 08, 2007
