Booze blackouts strong predictors of future alcohol-related injuries
A new study has revealed that college goers who indulge in heavy drinking – till they lost their memory – are at a higher risk of alcohol-related injuries in the future.
The study from Northwestern Medicine showed that 50 percent of college drinkers report at least one alcohol-induced memory blackout a period of amnesia in the past year during a drinking binge.
Despite being fully conscious during such blackouts, students could not recall specific events, such as how they got to a bar, party or their own front door.
The study found these drinkers who reported alcohol-induced memory loss are at a higher risk of alcohol-related injuries in the next 24 months versus their peers who drank just as much but didn’t report memory blackouts.
When you are in a blackout you are fully conscious, but you don’t really know what you are doing, and the choices you make can be irrational, risky and dangerous, said Michael Fleming, M.D., professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and co-author of the study.
“This study shows that these blackouts are strong predictors of future alcohol-related injuries,” he added.
For the study, Fleming and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, analysed data collected from full-time college students at four U.S. universities and one Canadian university.
The study was published online in Injury Prevention, June 2011.
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