Alcohol abuse on the rise among Valencian Community residents

A STUDY published by the Valencian Community has shown that issues with alcohol abuse are on the rise among groups of all ages in the region.

The wide-ranging investigation, which has been published in the magazine Neurology, looked at the existence of alcohol problems in the Valencian Community.

As it turns out, 84.5 per cent of the population of over 18-year-olds in the province of Alicante have drunk alcohol in the last year, with 22.6 per cent saying they have suffered from alcohol poisoning in that time. 

These numbers translate into hard work for the region’s medics, with four in 10 cases of substance abuse being dealt with in hospital emergency rooms relating to the consumption of alcohol. Over the last year, more than a thousand people needed emergency help due to alcohol abuse, a 30 per cent increase from the year before. 

In fact, these figures align with the fears of psychiatrists contacted by Información who point to a wider phenomenon of increased alcohol abuse since the Covid-19 pandemic.

They explain that alcohol use has grown as a form of “self-medication”, and that the age of those needing help is increasing, with more and more people in their 60s reporting problems. As well as this, alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 illnesses and disorders, and can also be commonly related to other addictions such as smoking and hard drug usage. 

Of all those who have needed help from the public health system in the Valencian Community in order to help them combat alcohol problems, 74 per cent were men, compared to 26 per cent being women. The average age of those asking for help is 47.7 years.

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