Posted on November 30, 2011

Reaching teenagers before they hit their college and young adult years with prevention and educational information about drugs and alcohol is critical. Those who begin using drugs and alcohol during the teen years often go on to continue dangerous practices into adulthood. This extended exposure means that their bodies are also exposed longer to the risks associated with these substances.

It is important that policymakers be provided with up-to-date information about trends in drug and alcohol use among different segments in the population. This helps communities plan adequate resources for treatment, education and prevention. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides periodic reports on the state of drug and alcohol use in the United States.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is a division of the National Institutes of Health. It recently released a report detailing information about trends in hospitalizations for drug and alcohol-related problems. The report found that between 1999 and 2008 there was a significant increase in hospitalizations related to alcohol and drug overdose for those aged 18 to 24 years.

The decade-long study found that the percentage of drug and alcohol overdoses and combinations of drug and alcohol overdoses increased by 25 percent, 56 percent and 76 percent, respectively.

The report showed that in 2008, a third of hospitalizations for overdoses for young adults were due to excessive alcohol consumption. Also in 2008, there were 29,000 hospitalizations for alcohol overdoses recorded for those aged 18 to 24 years. In addition, the report measured that there were 114,000 drug overdoses resulting in hospitalization, with another 29,000 caused by combined overdoses.

There was also a significant increase in hospitalizations for opioid pain medication overdose. The report recorded a 122 percent increase for overdoses of opioid pain medications that resulted in hospitalizations. In one of five of these poisonings, alcohol overdose was also a factor.

The authors of the report noted that the increases were not only observed in this particular age group, but that hospitalizations for drug and alcohol overdoses are growing in other age groups as well. However, the results shown for this age group may indicate a significant problem at an important time of life, when young adults are transitioning into a career and beginning to get married and start families.

The data for this report was collected from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. The data stems from project that collects a 20 percent sample from U.S. hospitals, conducted by researchers from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.