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Surge in middle aged patients admitted for drink and drug problems
More middle aged people are taken to hospital for drink and drug abuses and are putting a strain on the NHS, official figures revealed. Over one fifth of the 533,302 admissions for drink and drugs between 2010-13 were aged 40-49, experts found.
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Drink-drug admissions for each age group
According to Dr Foster's Hospital Guide the amount of patients admitted for health problems caused by substance abuse between 2010-13 were:
- 15% were between 30-34-year-olds
- 18% were 35-39-year-olds
- 16% were aged 50-54-year-olds
- Teenagers - 24,101 out of the 533,302 people admitted for drink-drug health issues were between 15-19-year-olds
- Another 3,013 were aged between 10-14-years-old.
'Over one fifth' of drink-drug patients are in their 40s
Over one fifth of people hospitalised because of problems caused by alcohol and drugs are in their 40s, new figures have revealed.
A little over half a million, 533,302, people were admitted to hospital with serious health problems because of their drink or drug consumption, experts Dr Foster said in their latest annual Hospital Guide.
Of those, 60,738 were aged 40 to 44 and another 60,083 were 45 to 49 – together, more than a fifth of the total. Some were admitted a number of times between 2010 and 2013.
According to Dr Foster's hospital admissions data, health problems stemming from substance abuse now cost the NHS £607m every year.
Keeping one patient in overnight owing to long-term alcohol abuse dwarfs the £22m spent annually on treating people after they have been binge drinking.