Top 5 Beer Brands Linked to ER Visits
Five brands accounted for the largest amounts of beer consumed by
people before they were treated for injuries at an emergency department
in a large U.S. city, according to a pilot study.
Of the five brands (Budweiser, Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Bud Ice and
Bud Light), three are a type of "malt liquor," which has a higher
alcohol content than regular beer.
Four brands of malt liquor (Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Bud Ice and King
Cobra) accounted for 46 percent of the beer consumed by the patients,
even though those four brands account for only 2.4 percent of beer
consumed in the general population.
For the study, researchers interviewed patients at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital emergency department in Baltimore on Friday and Saturday nights
between April 2010 and June 2011.
Of the 105 patients who admitted to drinking before they were
injured, 69 percent were men.
The study, thought to be the first of its kind to assess injured ER
patients' alcohol consumption by brand and type, was published online in
the journal Substance Use and Misuse.
The researchers also found that the proportion of vodka, gin and
brandy/cognac consumed by ER patients was higher than the proportion of
those drinks consumed in the general population.
"Recent studies reveal that nearly a third of injury visits to Level
I trauma centers were alcohol-related and frequently a result of heavy
drinking," lead author David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol
Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health,
said in a news release.
"Understanding the relationship between alcohol brands and their
connection to injury may help guide policy makers in considering
taxation and physical availability of different types of alcohol given
the harms associated with them," he explained.
The next step in this line of research would be to conduct a larger
study in multiple ERs and cities, the study authors suggested. They
added that policy changes from this research could include: requirements
for clear labeling of alcohol content on malt liquor beverages; limits
on malt liquor availability and marketing; and graduated taxation of
beer based on alcohol content to discourage people from drinking beer
with higher alcohol levels.
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