Patients in their 30s are now presenting at Irish hospitals to be treated for cirrhosis of the liver, a condition traditionally only found in older patients after long-term alcohol abuse, a doctor at a Dublin hospital has confirmed, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, in Mullingar
Dr Jeanne Moriarty, a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care at St James's Hospital, called for the development of a comprehensive health education programme by the Departments of Health and Education to combat the worrying levels of alcohol consumption among young people.
She told the annual conference of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association in Mullingar on Saturday that on an average weekend between one-third and half of the attendances at her hospital were alcohol-related.
Some were as a result of assault such as kicks to the head. "We probably have at least one person that is a victim of assault in our intensive care unit at all times," she said. "There has been a significant increase in the number of very vicious assaults ending up in intensive care," she added.
"We are also seeing the long-term effects of alcohol now in people in their 30s, 40s and 50s on an increasing basis," she said, pointing out that these long-term effects included cirrhosis of the liver and liver failure.
"I'm certainly frightened of the increase in alcohol consumption".
Prof Mary Leader, a consultant at the Mater hospital, said there had been a huge increase in the consumption of beer, spirits and wine over the past 10 years.
Teenagers were being taken to A&E to be washed out after binge-drinking at weekends, she said.