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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Emergency Department Visits Involving Underage Alcohol Use in Combination with Other Drugs




●● Of the estimated 188,981 alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits made by patients aged 12 to 20 in 2008, 70.0 percent involved alcohol only, and 30.0 percent involved alcohol in combination with other drugs
 
●● Illicit drug use was indicated in more than two thirds (68.4 percent), and pharmaceutical drugs were involved in more than one half (55.1 percent) of ED visits involving alcohol in combination with other drugs among patients aged 12 to 20

 
●● Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 3 in 10 (30.2 percent) alcohol-related ED visits made by females involved other drugs, whereas more than 2 in 10 (22.9 percent) of such
visits were made by males; among young adults aged 18 to 20, about one third of such visits made by both males (31.9 percent) and females (33.3 percent) involved other drugs

 
●● Of patients aged 12 to 20 who made alcohol related ED visits involving other drugs, nearly two thirds (64.5 percent) had no evidence of follow-up care




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