• Diana Egerton-Warburton, Andrew Gosbell, Angela Wadsworth, Daniel M Fatovich, and Drew B Richardson.
• Monash Medical Centre Emergency Department, Monash Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. angela.wadsworth@acem.org.au.
• Med. J. Aust. 2014 Nov 17; 201 (10): 584-7.

ObjectiveTo determine the proportion of alcohol-related presentations to emergency departments (EDs) in Australia and New Zealand, at a single time point on a weekend night shift.Design, Setting And ParticipantsA point prevalence survey of ED patients either waiting to be seen or currently being seen conducted at 02:00 local time on 14 December 2013 in 106 EDs in Australia and New Zealand.Main Outcome MeasuresThe number of ED presentations that were alcohol-related, defined using World Health Organization ICD-10 codes.ResultsAt the 106 hospitals (92 Australia, 14 New Zealand) that provided data, 395 (14.3%; 95% CI, 13.0%-15.6%) of 2766 patients in EDs at the study time were presenting for alcohol-related reasons; 13.8% (95% CI, 12.5%-15.2%) in Australia and 17.9% (95% CI, 13.9%-22.8%) in New Zealand. The distribution was skewed left, with proportions ranging from 0 to 50% and a median of 12.5%. Nine Australian hospitals and one New Zealand hospital reported that more than a third of their ED patients had alcohol-related presentations; the Northern Territory (38.1%) and Western Australia (21.1%) reported the highest proportions of alcohol-related presentations.ConclusionsOne in seven ED presentations in Australian and New Zealand at this 02:00 snapshot were alcohol-related, with some EDs seeing more than one in three alcohol-related presentations. This confirms that alcohol-related presentations to EDs are currently underreported and makes a strong case for public health initiatives.

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