Alcohol-induced blackouts can lead to future injuries

College drinkers may amaze friends with tales of forgotten nights and sloshy parties, but research from Northwestern University shows those who can’t remember how the night ended are almost twice as likely to receive injuries in the future.

A recent study published in the June 2011 Injury Prevention journal shows that college students who report alcohol-induced memory blackouts are at a higher risk of alcohol-related injuries than those who drink but don’t black out.

The researchers surveyed 13,000 students from four U.S. universities and one Canadian university over five years. Of those surveyed, 954 students were flagged as “heavy drinkers” — men who reported having at least 50 drinks over the past 28 days and women who reported having at least 40 drinks.

“The study offers a major warning to student drinkers,” said Michael Fleming, co-author of the study. “If you black out, you need to cut back on your drinking, because the next time it happens, you could be driving a car or walking on a bridge and something bad could happen.”

Of those flagged in the study, half reported having an alcohol-induced memory blackout in the past year.