Characteristics of adolescents with acute alcohol intoxication in Belgium

Abstract Background Binge drinking and acute alcohol intoxication (AAI) are common in Belgian adolescents, posing a risk of serious health consequences. To develop cost-effective preventive measures for problematic alcohol use in adolescents in Belgium, more insight into the background of this group is necessary. Methods To gain more insight into the prevalence, medical characteristics and context of AAI, a retrospective multicentre hospital chart study was performed on adolescents aged 10 to 18 years with AAI in Antwerp, Belgium from 2015-2021. Furthermore, a prospective intervention study for adolescents with AAI in Antwerp was set up in 2023, of which the first results were not yet known at the time of submission. However, these results will be presented at the conference, if available. Results Over the study period, a total of 1032 admissions related to alcohol intoxication occurred in 1016 patients, with a median age of 16.6 years old and a median blood alcohol intoxication (BAC) of 1.95 g/L. There was combined drug use in 10% of the cases. Only 17% of the patients received additional care after admission. These findings did not significantly change over the study period. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that after correcting for covariates, higher age, no combined drug use and decreased consciousness at admission were associated with more severe AAI cases (higher BAC). Conclusions AAI is prevalent among Belgian adolescents. Therefore, better-targeted preventive measures and policies are needed. Our findings could be taken into account when developing preventive measures. However, data addressing the demographics and context of AAI were mostly missing. Therefore, a prospective follow-up study was set up in Antwerp, which started in 2023 and is still ongoing. Furthermore, this study will investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a follow-up intervention for this group of patients.