FollowIn a whopping exposure, a new research says that binge drinking is prevalent among high school seniors with one in 10 engaged in extreme binge drinking i.e. 10 or more drinks in a row. Shockingly, the 5.6% of them have consumed 15 or more drinks.
The researchers at University of Michigan say, “Although binge drinking among young people has decreased in the last several decades, it is still fairly common among high school seniors.”
“This is the first study to document extreme binge drinking in a sample of adolescents,” says lead author Megan Patrick, a research assistant professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
The researchers carried a survey of more than 16,000 high school seniors between 2005 and 2011. During the study they found that more than 20 percent reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row) within the last two weeks. Additionally, 10.5 percent said they consumed 10 or more drinks and 5.6 percent reported extreme binge drinking of 15 or more drinks in a row.
The percentage of high school seniors who binge drink overall has gone down, but the percentage extreme binge drinking has stayed virtually the same in recent years, which may explain why emergency room visits for kids in this age group have not decreased, Patrick says.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says underage drinking is responsible for 5,000 deaths and more than 190,000 emergency room visits each year.
Binge drinking can cause serious injuries, accidents, alcohol poisoning and drowning. It can also lead to impaired driving ability and increase the risk of liver damage and alcohol dependence. Moreover, consuming high levels of alcohol at this age can also alter brain development.
The study was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
