KEY POINTS:
Startling new figures show that more women have been hospitalised with alcohol poisoning than men since the drinking age was lowered in 1999 - prompting calls for a Government crackdown on alcohol retailers and advertisers.
In 2001, the number of women admitted to hospital with severe alcohol poisoning surpassed men for the first time and kept climbing to 60 per cent of admissions in 2004 - noticeably among the 15 to 24-year-old age group.
The alarming trend is being blamed on the Kiwi binge-drinking culture, which encourages women to "keep up" with men, and on marketers who target women with palatable alcopop beverages.
However, some doctors and alcohol lobby groups believe alcohol-related problems are under-reported and are calling for a review of how patients are coded when they are admitted to hospital.
Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor admitted lowering the drinking age to 18 was partly to blame, but said there was no quick cure to changing the habits of generations of New Zealanders.
Alcohol Healthwatch is studying the new data, released by the Ministry of Health's research department, and has warned that the raw data had not been completely analysed.
But director Rebecca Williams is concerned at the clear indicator that more women are being affected by alcohol poisoning than men, especially in the younger age bracket.
She said alcohol consumption rates had skyrocketed in recent years, driven by sales of ready-to-drink mixed spirits, which were popular with women and particularly young women.
Although men had a long history of drinking - and heavy drinking - Williams said that New Zealand's drinking culture was challenging women to "keep up", an environment exacerbated when the drinking age was lowered in 2000.
"Women had more room to grow, in a horrible way, and they've caught up to the drinking of men. The scene was set beforehand, but you can definitely see that the intentional poisoning has shot up, there is a definite trend there," Williams said.
Binge drinking was considered normal now, and although the alcohol poisoning figures were at the serious end of the drinking scale, Williams agreed that the problem was under-reported.
"These figures are not talking about the kids who get hammered and don't go to hospital. There's a lot of people who end up sleeping under a hedge," she said.
Similarly, intoxicated men admitted to hospital were often diagnosed with injuries caused by a drunken fight or accident - and recorded that way - compared with women who arrived simply unconscious, possibly skewing the numbers.
DR PAUL Quigley, emergency medicine specialist at Wellington Hospital, said overall 70 per cent of patients admitted with alcohol-related injuries were men, but his research showed that the numbers of men and women were split evenly in the under-20 age group.
"That's worrying as well, because if you look at the media, a lot of the things are about boy racers and boys binge-drinking but we're not really seeing that. We see a fairly even thing and women are just as much at fault," Dr Quigley said.
For once, gender equality was "sad" for our country, O'Connor said.
He is leading a review of the sale and supply of alcohol, and the effect of industry advertising. Recommendations are expected to be tabled with Cabinet in the next few months.
But he said simply reversing the decision on the drinking age would not be enough, with the ministry also reviewing legislation around extended drinking hours, the number of outlets and industry marketing.
By law, the alcohol industry is prohibited from targeting youth, but O'Connor said it was not sticking to voluntary advertising agreements.
"The argument that advertising seeks to retain market share needs a little closer scrutiny. If the voluntary code is not being implemented we have a responsibility to look at tougher sanctions," O'Connor said.
"This is a serious and challenging area and the Government has made changes with good intent which have not proved successful. But it's a problem that can't be reversed overnight."
Booze is freely available - a proliferation of bars and bottle shops has seen the number of licensed liquor outlets nearly triple since 1988, with more than 15,200 registered in 2004.
Statistics New Zealand figures show that private households took home alcohol worth more than $20 per week in 2004, up from $17.70 three years before.
Overall, the triennial survey showed that private households spent almost $1.6 billion on liquor that year, a figure which is particularly high when compared with household spending on items, such as $450m on bread and $622m on fresh vegetables.
Vodka and cheap RTDs, which were young women's drinks of choice, were tipping them over the edge, Tauranga Hospital spokeswoman Carol Wollaston said. "Thursday through Saturday are the busiest times, with at least four to five alcohol-related presentations per day.
"With women, it tends to be teenagers and young women - it is rare to see women over 30 coming in with alcohol poisoning," Wollaston said.
Sandra Kirby, deputy chief executive of ALAC, said women - whose bodies could not handle drinking copious amounts of booze - were facing serious problems with alcohol.
Advertising campaigns, such as the "It's not the drinking, it's how we're drinking" ads, were being noticed by women but changing people's behaviour took time.
Lowering the drinking age had not helped, she said.
"We've got people who think it's funny to watch people fall off chairs, to watch people being sick," she said.
"While we think it's funny, that is a signal of tolerance.
"The fact that drunkenness is celebrated means that anybody - any gender, any age - feels that it's okay for them to be drunk.
"Until we change people's tolerance and acceptability of drunkenness as a social norm, then these are the costs that New Zealand will bear."
- Are you concerned about your drinking? Do the DrinkCheck quiz on www.alac.org.nz to see if you might have a problem, or call the alcohol helpline 0800 787 797.
The facts
* Alcohol is the leading cause of poisonings requiring hospital admission in Auckland.
* Women are biologically more susceptible to alcohol than men. More body fat and less body water affects alcohol metabolism. The enzyme dehydrogenase, which helps break alcohol down, is less active in women. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy is the leading preventable cause of birth defects and neurological damage in children.
* As few as five drinks a week can inhibit female fertility.
* Adolescent girls are more likely to drink because of peer pressure.
* Women find it harder to admit to a drinking problem than men. They are more likely to try to match male drinking patterns.
Signs to watch out for
Dealing with alcohol poisoning
Emergency departments around the country see the first-hand results of women who drink to excess, when they have to treat them on busy weekend nights. Dr Paul Quigley from Wellington Hospital said women suffering from alcohol poisoning were usually brought to the emergency department "unconscious - or blithering idiots". He said those coming in drunk often required a lot of work. "Some women are so unconscious that we have to actually put them on life support, basically, at least overnight, and that's a bed in intensive care that someone else could have had. After 10 o'clock at night, you [would] reduce the ED presentations by 70 per cent if you just took out all the alcohol-related things. We could almost shut some of the hospitals at night if it wasn't for what comes through from alcohol."
What is alcohol poisoning?
When your body absorbs too much alcohol, it can directly impact your central nervous system, slowing your breathing, heart rate and gag reflex. This can lead to choking, coma and even death. Alcohol poisoning most often occurs as a result of drinking too many alcoholic beverages over a short period of time. Factors that affect your blood alcohol concentration include how strong the alcohol is, how quickly and how much you drink, and how empty your stomach is at the time you drink.
What are the symptoms of alcohol poisoning?
* Confusion, stupor
* Vomiting
* Seizures
* Slow or irregular breathing
* Blue-tinged or pale skin
* Low body temperature (hypothermia)
* Unconsciousness
It's not necessary for all of these symptoms to be present before seeking help. A person who has become unconscious is at risk of dying.
How much do you have to drink?
This varies, but women are biologically more susceptible to alcohol than men, as they have more body fat and less body water, which affects alcohol metabolism. The enzyme dehydrogenase, which helps break alcohol down, is also less active in women.
How is it treated?
Alcohol poisoning treatment usually involves supportive care while your body rids itself of the alcohol. This typically includes careful monitoring, airway protection to prevent breathing problems or choking, oxygen therapy and the administration of fluids through a vein (intravenously) to prevent dehydration. Kidney dialysis may be required in extreme cases.
Long-term effects?
Those who drink to excess every weekend are four to six times more likely to become alcoholic, and they may develop serious health conditions, such as fatty liver syndrome.
