ALCOHOL-RELATED admissions to accident and emergency units rose 30 per cent in six years, figures released by a Labour AM showed today.

There were 10,334 incidents in 2007/08, up from 7,937 in 2002/03. More than 55,000 people were admitted in the six-year period, 3,934 of them aged under 18.

The Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport had the most admissions with 5,828.

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust had 10,787 admissions, the most of the former trusts that were swallowed up in this year's health service reorganisation.

Vale of Clwyd AM Anne Jones, who obtained the figures, said: "During the festive season, millions of people will of course be enjoying some Christmas cheer and there is nothing wrong with that.

"However, we need to realise the strain that patients with over-exuberant drinking is having on the Welsh health service.

"Almost 4,000 admissions to Welsh hospitals involved under 18s which is an extremely worrying statistic.

"I do think that we need to be looking at the pricing structure in Wales as it is possible to drink more than your daily allowance for as little as a couple of pounds.

The figures were published on the same day as research showing men were at a greater risk of violence than women when drinking.

Cardiff University found men and women were equally at risk before drinking alcohol, but the risk rose much faster for men when they started to drink.

Researchers studied patients arriving for emergency treatment at hospital and people on nights out.

They found there was an upper limit of 11 alcohol units for men and five for women after which injuries became less likely.

Assaults were usually between people of the same sex. Incidents involving men and women were rare.

The risk of violence fell with age and rose with disposable income.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, director of the university's violence and society research group, said: "In the Christmas party season, these results show once again that people can lower their risk of suffering violence by going easy on alcohol consumption.

"Men in particular become more at risk, perhaps because of different risk-taking behaviour between the two sexes when drunk.

"The finding that the risk of violence actually falls after a high level of consumption – 11 units in men and five units in women – may seem a little strange.

"However, we know that alcohol is ultimately a depressant, and people may become less impulsive and argumentative at these levels."