Antwerp hospitals admit nearly 150 young people annually with acute alcohol intoxication
Nearly 150 young people end up in Antwerp’s emergency departments each year with acute alcohol intoxication, according to figures released on Thursday from a doctoral study at the University of Antwerp.
Compared with several European counterparts, Belgian teenagers are more likely to be admitted for intoxication. Among fourteen- to seventeen-year-olds, the number of admissions in Belgium is higher than in countries such as the Netherlands and Italy, and girls are disproportionately represented in this group.
“The results confirm the relatively high prevalence of alcohol abuse among Belgian adolescents,” researcher Hanna van Roozendaal says. “This is evident, among other things, from the high incidence of intoxication among adolescents in Antwerp, which has not decreased in recent years.”
Trends in Antwerp
Between 2015 and 2021, an average of 145 young people aged ten to seventeen were admitted to Antwerp’s emergency rooms annually for acute alcohol intoxication. “That means 31 admissions per 10,000 adolescents,” Van Roozendaal calculates. “On average, they had a blood alcohol content of 1.95 per mille. In one in ten cases, there was a combination of drug use and alcohol.”
Van Roozendaal also examined national estimates from the Intermutualistic Agency (IMA). These figures appear to underestimate the scale of the issue: when compared with the Antwerp data, the national incidence is 21 per cent higher.
Intensive follow-up programmes offered after hospital admission show encouraging effects. Problematic alcohol use declines, and parent–child relationships tend to improve.
“Raising the age limit to eighteen will most likely have a positive effect,” Van Roozendaal concludes. “Stricter rules on alcohol advertising would also be effective.”
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS
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