During the lockdown, the slump is easy to explain: if young people are not allowed to meet friends, they get drunk less often and are less likely to come to the hospital intoxicated. But even in the second year of the pandemic, the clinic statistics are surprising.
Munich (dpa/lby) – The development from the first year of the pandemic has continued: In 2021, significantly fewer children and adolescents were treated for alcohol abuse in Bavarian clinics. The clinics registered 2060 cases last year, after 2037 in the previous year. Before the pandemic, however, almost twice as many young alcohol patients between the ages of 10 and 20 were treated on average between 2016 and 2019, with almost 4050 cases. This was announced by the health insurance company DAK Bayern of the German Press Agency in Munich after an evaluation of data from the Federal Statistical Office.
Striking: The girls are now much more represented than before. “The proportion of girls in all hospital cases has never been so high at 46 percent,” emphasized the DAK. In 2016, for example, when the total number of young “coma bingers” was still at a much higher total of 4,400, the proportion of female kids and teens was not even 40 percent.
Regardless of gender, one thing is clear: “Even small amounts of alcohol can have dangerous health consequences for children and young people. Alcohol consumption can damage the brain and also increase the risk of becoming mentally or physically ill,” explained Health Minister Klaus Holetschek.
He is patron of the alcohol prevention campaign “colorful instead of blue”, with which the DAK is bringing the topic to schools. In addition to teaching units about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption, students have also been looking for the best poster ideas on the subject of binge drinking for 14 years.
