A quarter of emergency department patients with injuries had been drinking before they needed help, a new study has found.
New Zealand ranked second worst out of 28 countries in the study. Photo: 123rf
The proportion of patients who had been drinking before they were taken to an emergency department in 2015/16 was 25 percent - down from 45 percent compared to a similar study 15 years earlier.
But New Zealand still ranked second worst out of 28 countries in the study.
Dr Bridget Kool from the University of Auckland was part of the team that led the New Zealand arm of the International Collaborative Alcohol and Injury Study.
She told Morning Report the study looked at countries' alcohol policies and the prevalence of injuries following alcohol consumption.
She said the study found Sweden had the most robust alcohol policy and one of the lowest numbers of people needing medical help for an injury after drinking.
"That sends a clear signal that robust alcohol policy does have a positive impact on reducing injury presentations that are alcohol-related to ED."
"The proportion of people who had been drinking dropped considerably" - Dr Bridget Kool
While the proportion of alcohol-related appearances at EDs had dropped, Dr Kool said the number of injuries resulting from assaults and violence where alcohol had been consumed was the same.
"Alcohol still plays a huge role in those."
But she said there was also cause for optimism in the reduced number of road traffic accident victims who had been drinking, and some signs of progress with the problem of younger people drinking.
She said there was still a lot of work to be done, with the use of social media by alcohol companies to target early drinkers another big issue that needed to be examined.
"There's currently no regulation around that."