NYC Booze-Related Injuries Double On New Year's Day, City Says

NEW YORK, NY — Be careful where you drink this New Year's Eve. More than twice as many New Yorkers end up in emergency rooms with alcohol-related injuries on New Year's Day than a typical day, the city Department of Health said Friday.

Booze sent 141 people to the hospital on Jan. 1, 2015, according to a new Department of Health report. Most of those visits came between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. About 57 percent of all alcohol-related injuries result from falls.

This weekend's freezing-cold weather could make drinking even more dangerous — because alcohol causes the body to lose heat faster and impairs judgment, heavy drinking could lead to higher risk of hypothermia and frostbite, according to the city Office of Emergency Management.

"If you plan on drinking alcohol this weekend, be sure to drink in moderation and pace yourself," city Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett said in a statement. "The emergency department is not the place to ring in the New Year."

The city recorded 14,171 emergency room visits for booze-related injuries in 2015, a 35-percent increase from 2011's 10,480 visits, according to the Department of Health report.

The typical weekend saw 52 alcohol related visits, while the typical weekday saw just 34.

Emergency room visits were most frequent in the Manhattan neighborhoods of Gramercy Park, Murray Hill and East Harlem, as well as Stapleton-St. George and Port Richmond on Staten Island and Crotona-Tremont in the Bronx.

Booze sent far more men to the hospital than women, the report says. The accounted for 81 percent of all alcohol-related emergency room visits and 77 percent of hospitalizations.

The Department of Health recommends drinking on a full stomach and surrounding yourself with friends or family who can help in the event of a booze-related mishap.

Lead image: People toast New Year. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)