title: Epidemic Adolescent Binge Drinking at Lollapalooza, A Music Festival in Chicago.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Lollapalooza (LP) is an annual 3-day outdoor music festival in Chicago. Underage drinking and drug use are believed to be common, but the burden on emergency departments (EDs) has not been documented. We assessed the burden on health care resources associated with this music festival.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective chart review of adolescent (aged 11-20 years) ED visits during LP weekend and 4 summer comparison weekends at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, Ill, in 2014 (n = 356). We then analyzed adolescent alcohol- and drug-related hospital visits to all Chicago hospitals for each weekend in 2014 0 using Illinois hospital discharge data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescents accounted for a greater proportion of our ED visits during LP weekend than comparison weekends (25% vs 19%, P < 0.02). Lollapalooza weekend patients were more likely female (P = 0.025), older (P = 0.0067), more often unsupervised (P < 0.0001), and less likely to live in the city (P < 0.001) than adolescents seen during comparison weekends. Thirty-one underage adolescents who attended LP were treated in our ED; 84% were intoxicated (blood alcohol content, 88-328 mg/dL). Citywide there was an 11-fold increase in adolescent alcohol-related hospital visits during LP weekend compared with an average weekend. Drug intoxication was much less common.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescents seen in our ED the weekend of LP were older, more often female, frequently unsupervised, and less likely to be city residents than those seen during comparison weekends. Those who attended LP had high rates of alcohol intoxication. This surge of intoxicated adolescent patients affected numerous EDs in the city.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: McAndrew
authors.affiliation: Child Health Data Lab, Smith Child Health Research Program, Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Tracie L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Groothuis
authors.forename: Lindsay R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Koressel
authors.forename: Sharon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Unti
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Tanz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D000078336:Facilities and Services Utilization; D005260:Female; D006693:Holidays; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000066608:Underage Drinking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult