ER doctor says alcohol-related visits have decreased in I.C.

IOWA CITY - Iowa City's 21-only bar ordinance seems to have had the biggest impact on 19- and 20-year-olds when it comes to reducing alcohol-related visits to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Emergency Room, an ER doctor said Wednesday.

In looking at the year before the ordinance went into effect and the year after the ordinance, Dr. Michael Takacs said he found a decrease in the number of ER patients with alcohol-related visits, when looking at 18- to 22-year-olds who came into the ER between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. That number was 453 in the year before the ordinance and 359 in the year after the law, Takacs reported to the Partnership for Alcohol Safety during the group's meeting Wednesday. The total number of ER visits for that age group remained steady in the comparison - about 3,000 each of the years, Takacs said.

For the year before the ordinance, 453 alcohol-related visits out of 2,954 total visits is a rate of 15.3 per 100 visits, he said. In the year after the ordinance, 359 alcohol-related visits out of 2,989 total visits is a rate of 12.0 per 100. The 19- and 20-year-old age groups saw the biggest decrease, Takacs said.

“It made a difference,” he said. “I believe the 21-ordinance had a positive and measurable effect.”

The 21-only ordinance went into effect June 1, 2010, and the numbers Takacs reported go through May 2011.

Leah Cohen, an Iowa City bar owner who serves on the Partnership for Alcohol Safety, said she noticed a big difference the first fall semester the ordinance was in effect, but she worries the numbers have begun creeping up again.

Members of the Partnership for Alcohol Safety on Nov. 21 will meet with the City Council to discuss recommendations for changes to food-related exception certificates to the 21-only ordinance that businesses can receive under certain circumstances. The recommendations from the partnership are meant to keep businesses from taking advantage of the food exceptions to admit underage patrons.