The graph above shows substance-related ED visits 

by substance type for alcohol and the most 

common illicit substances in hospitals that have 

completed abstraction of ED visits for adults 

involving only alcohol for January – August 2020. 

Among these hospitals during this time period, 

alcohol was the most common substance involved 

in these substance-related ED visits (45.1%). 

Among the hospitals that have completed abstraction of ED visits for adults involving only alcohol for 

January – August 2020, ninety-six percent of all alcohol-related ED visits involved patients 21 years or 

older. Substance-related ED visits may involve more 

than one substance. Polysubstance use is defined as 

the use of more than one substance, where at least 

one substance is an illicit drug or alcohol and may 

contain pharmaceuticals. Of the 96% of alcohol-related visits for adults, 25.1% were polysubstance visits. Of the 3.8% of alcohol-related visits for patients 

under 21, 53.5% involved more than one substance.

Substance Use-Related 

ED Visits by Substance Type

All Alcohol Use-Related 

ED visits by Age

Polysubstance Use-Related 

ED Visits Involving Alcohol 

for Adults 

Polysubstance Use-Related 

ED Visits Involving Alcohol 

for Individuals Under 21 

DAWN and Alcohol

v 1.0 December 2020 

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a nationwide public health surveillance system administered by the 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and 

Quality. As of October 15, 2020, data are being abstracted from 49 hospitals. Ultimately, the system will include at least 

50 non-Federal general hospitals with 24-hour emergency departments (EDs), consisting of 10 sentinel hospitals and 

40 probability-sampled hospitals. Data are abstracted directly from hospital electronic health records. DAWN captures 

data on ED visits related to recent substance use and misuse, such as alcohol use, illicit drug use, suicide attempts, and 

nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals.

DAWN data can be used to monitor substance misuse trends and serve as an early warning system to identify new psychoactive substances. Since the sample is partial and the data are unweighted, this profile provides only preliminary results that 

are not generalizable to the US; caution must therefore be exercised in interpreting the data presented here.

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality For more information, please call (240) 276-1250

ED visits that only involved alcohol for adults, 

defined as patients ages 21 and older, were added 

to the DAWN data abstraction protocol in September 2020. Back data abstraction starting with visits 

occurring in January 2020 is now underway but 

is not complete for all hospitals. The information 

provided below summarizes unweighted data from 

a subset of 17 hospitals that have completed data 

abstraction on all ED visits related to alcohol from 

January through August 2020.
Percent of Weekly Alcohol Use-Related ED Visits to Total ED Visits

The graph above shows the percent of weekly alcohol-use related ED visits to total ED visits from the first week 

of January through August 2020. This period covers the date that COVID-19 was declared a national emergency, 

the point at which a majority of states announced stay at home orders, to the time these states started lifting 

their restrictions. Alcohol-related ED visits ranged from 2% to 4% of all ED visits, peaking at 4.2% during 

the period in which a majority of states announced stay at home orders and when those states started lifting 

restrictions.

Percent of Weekly Alcohol Use-Related ED Visits to Total ED Visits by Community Type

The above graph shows the percent of weekly alcohol use-related ED visits to total ED visits by community type. 

In this graph, the denominator is all ED visits within each community type. The percent of alcohol-related ED 

visits increased in all three community types after COVID-19 was declared a national emergency. Urban 

communities consistently had the highest percentage of weekly alcohol use-related cases compared to 

suburban and rural communities. 

v 1.0 December 2020 

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality For more information, please call (240) 276-1250

DAWN and Alcohol