Research published in the journal Addiction conducted in Ontario looked at the health records of all people aged 12-30 from 2002-2007. Analysts found alcohol-related incidents landed young people in hospital more often within a week of their birthday than any other time of the year.
There were an extra 38 hospital admissions for alcohol-use disorders per 1,000 total admissions for men during their respective birthday weeks. As for women, there were an extra 28 alcohol-use disorders for every 1,000 female admissions at the time of their birthdays.
The survey stated birthday binge drinking was researched in order to understand the impact of hitting the bottle heavily during celebrations throughout adolescence and adulthood. Officials associated with the study said this information will help guide event-specific preventions from alcohol-related incidents.
"In the US, especially among college students, there is a demonstrated social trend to drink heavily on the 21st birthday, as a rite of passage for reaching the drinking age," study researcher and research assistant at the University of Northern British Columbia, Jodi Gatley, told Live Science.
The biggest spike in the Canadian study occurred within a week of a given person's 19th birthday, which is the legal drinking age in Canada.
Researchers told Live Science that the new findings bring light to the issue of birthday binge drinking, which must be addressed. According to Women's Health Magazine, researchers have sent out web-based screening programs aimed at college students to prevent binge drinking.
"There is a need for efforts to reduce hazardous drinking during birthday celebrations for young people," Gatley told Live Journal. "A promising approach is to educate young adults about strategies for less harmful drinking events, such as alternating alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones, eating before and during drinking, having a designated driver, and choosing other types of activities to celebrate."
