Crate Day drinking a massive burden on emergency departments in Waikato

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-23 22:01

New Zealand

Image by Marcus Spiske on UnSplash

Emergency departments in the Waikato region admitted twice as many 20-34 year-olds for acute alcohol intoxication on Crate Day weekend compared with regular weekends, according to pooled data from 2019 and 2020. Authors of the study say their results reinforce the need to address alcohol promotion and drinking culture to minimise alcohol-related harm and reduce burdens on the healthcare system, and could help with ED workload planning in the Waikato region.

Media release

From: Pasifika Medical Association Group

Crate Day is of public health concern because of the potential alcohol-related harm due to an increase in alcohol consumption in a high-risk way and which is likely to be distributed unevenly across society. It also could cause indirect harm through consumption of scarce healthcare resource and the associated cost of delaying other patients’ care. This study aims to describe the pattern of emergency department (ED) alcohol-related presentations (ARPs) on Crate Day in the Waikato and the findings suggest such relationship between Crate Day and ARPs, which varies between different population groups.

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Medical Journal

Organisation/s: Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand

Funder: N/A

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.