Count, Rate of ED Visits for Alcohol-Specific Diagnoses Increasing

TUESDAY, Jan. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) — The count and rate of emergency department (ED) visits for alcohol-specific diagnoses increased from 2003-2004 to 2021-2022 among male and female individuals, according to a report issued by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Xianghua Yin, Ph.D., M.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues present ED visit estimates by sex from 2003-2004 to 2021-2022 for alcohol-specific diagnoses.

The researchers found that from 2003-2004 to 2021-2022, there was a 101 percent increase in the count of ED visits for alcohol-specific diagnoses among male individuals, from 1,986,000 to 3,998,000 visits. The count of ED visits for alcohol-specific diagnoses among female individuals increased by 96 percent during the same period, from 701,000 to 1,374,000 visits. The rate of alcohol-specific diagnosis visits for male individuals increased by 75 percent from 2003-2004 to 2021-2022, from 71 to 124 visits per 10,000 population; during the same period, the rate for female individuals increased by 71 percent, from 24 to 41 visits.

“Throughout the period, the alcohol-specific diagnoses visit rate for males was higher than for females,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text