Hospital admissions for drug and alcohol use in people aged under 45

The annual health and social costs of misuse of alcohol and illegal drugs in England and Wales are estimated to be nearly £20bn each.w1 w2 About 5.9 million people drink twice the recommended weekly consumption; 1 million people use ecstasy, cocaine, or other class A drugs each year; and more than 100 000 people are injecting drug users.w1 w3 w4 Both alcohol and other problem drug use are associated with a range of harms and cause substantial morbidity and mortality.w1 w5 w6 Trends in emergency room use have been used to indicate the level of harm in the population.w3 w4 In the absence of accident and emergency data in England and Wales, we investigated trends in drug and alcohol related hospital admissions for people aged under 45. The bottom line Admission rates for mental and behavioural disorders caused by alcohol rose slightly in women aged under 25 and in children Admission rates for mental and behavioural disorders due to use of controlled drugs decreased in people aged 15-24 but increased in those aged 25-44 Wide variation in admission rates between primary care trusts could be due to a range of factors unrelated to levels of harm in the population