Identifying and describing alcohol-related paediatric emergency department attendances amongst under 16 year olds including time trends, incidence rates, and sociodemographic factors associated with alcohol-related harm

Davies, N ORCID: 0009-0005-0789-2122, Charalampopoulos, D ORCID: 0000-0002-3763-3130, Rose, A ORCID: 0000-0003-3267-7318 and Messahel, S (2025) Identifying and describing alcohol-related paediatric emergency department attendances amongst under 16 year olds including time trends, incidence rates, and sociodemographic factors associated with alcohol-related harm. PLOS One, 20 (8).

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Abstract

This study used ED attendance data to identify and describe alcohol-related attendances and identify sociodemographic factors associated with risk of alcohol-related harm. Between 2011 and 2022, N = 774 patients had at least one alcohol-related attendance. Descriptive statistics were computed to show the sociodemographic profile of patients, and the number of attendances were aggregated by calendar year. Attendance rates per 100,000 were computed using UK national mid-year population estimates. Associations between sociodemographic characteristics and severity-related outcomes (including whether the patient was admitted to hospital, and whether the patient had multiple attendances) and patient safeguarding concerns were explored through logistic regression. Most attendances were female (73.90%) and around a quarter (26.75%) were admitted to hospital during at least one attendance. Attendances per year and percentage resulting in admission decreased during the study period. These changes were reflected by attendance rates which fell for boys (50.65 to 15.25 per 100,00) and girls (94.83 to 36.90 per 100,000) between 2011 and 2022. Females were less likely than males to be admitted to hospital (OR=0.61 [95%CI = 0.43, 0.88], p = .008). Additionally, younger adolescents were more likely to have reported safeguarding concerns (OR=0.26 [95%CI = 0.12, 0.56], p = .001). Finally, patients with safeguarding concerns and non-White ethnicity was associated with multiple attendances during the study period (OR=3.84 [95%CI = 1.74, 8.44], p = .001; OR=3.25 [95%CI = 1.14, 9.28], p = 0.28). Alcohol-related attendances have declined over the last 11 years, and harms may differ between genders. While most attendances were female, males were more likely to be admitted to hospital. Particular subgroups may be vulnerable to harms, including younger and non-White patients, potentially illustrating that adverse childhood experiences and marginalised characteristics are associated with harmful alcohol consumption. This study confirms that admissions data is likely to underestimate the true numbers of young people experiencing harm, and future research should conduct more robust analyses using attendance data to further understand risk factors.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	General Science & Technology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date of acceptance:	13 July 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	22 August 2025
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2025 14:36
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2025 14:45
DOI or ID number:	10.1371/journal.pone.0329502
Editors:	Nik Ab. Rahman, NH
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26980

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