New Year's Ouch — 7 common celebratory injuries

By Alex Card

Happy New Year! Just a few days ago, people around the globe were chilling the bubbly, stocking up on noisemakers, and writing some escape clauses into their resolutions for the year ahead. Meanwhile, the world’s emergency departments were prepping for their prime time. 

A great New Year’s Eve party often ends in the wee hours of the new year, but for some unfortunate revelers, the night ultimately ends in the hospital—or worse. Some research suggests that New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day comprise one of the deadliest periods of the year. 

The good news is that most folks have stated 2023 with only minimal damage from the night before. Did you recently attend a New Year’s Eve party? Check out our list of some fairly common, usually not-too-serious complications that can arise after an evening of celebration. 

Common celebratory complications by percent of total diagnoses

1. Nausea and vomiting (R110, R112) — 31%
2. Headache (R519, R51) — 29%
3. Dizziness and giddiness (R42) — 25%
4. Dehydration (E86) — 11%
5. Ankle sprain (S93401A, S93402A) — 3%
6. Metatarsalgia (M7740, M7741, M7742) — 2%
7. Alcohol poisoning (T510X1A, T5191XA) — <1% 

What was the most common party-related diagnosis in 2021?

If you’ve ever imbibed alcohol at a social event, there’s a decent chance you’ve learned your limit one way or the other. For many Americans, that simply means waking up the next morning with a hangover—and all the nastiness that comes with it.

In 2021, nausea (R110) and vomiting (R112) were responsible for more than 11.6 million provider visits and over $5 billion in total claims. About 4.8 million of those visits were for nausea alone. 

Nausea and vomiting are common outcomes of alcohol poisoning (T510X1A, T5191XA), a condition that led to at least 21,021 provider visits in 2021.

Of course, most cases of nausea and vomiting have nothing to do with celebrating, but even those causes unrelated to alcohol could be a concern this New Year’s Eve: overeating, foodborne illness, infectious disease, and social anxiety, to name a few. 

No matter the cause, excessive vomiting is potentially dangerous, as it can lead to dehydration (R42). This condition was responsible for more than 4.1 million provider visits last year.

What other complications are associated with New Year’s Eve?

Whether a result of overindulging or simply due to the stress of hosting friends and family, headaches are practically a holiday staple.

Headaches are the most common type of pain that Americans report to their doctors, responsible for over 11 million provider visits and $5.8 billion in claims in 2021. This figure combines the older ICD-10 diagnosis code for headaches (R51) with the newer code for headaches from an unspecified source (R519) and excludes headaches with an orthostatic component (R510).

If alcohol is present at your New Year’s party, a little dizziness and giddiness (R42) are to be expected. More than 9.6 million people went to the doctor with these symptoms last year. 

Mix dizziness and giddiness with some music, and you have the perfect recipe for a dangerous dancefloor. With luck, the worst dance-related injury at your party will be mild metatarsalgia (M7740-M7742)—that’s pain in the ball of the foot due to overuse. But especially groovy moves in an unbalanced state could just as easily result in a sprained ankle (S93401A, S93402A).

Learn more

Our healthcare commercial intelligence can’t tell you how to behave on New Year’s Eve—sadly, machine learning still hasn’t figured out common sense.

However, the Definitive Healthcare platform can deliver industry-leading insights on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers, saving you and your team the headache of manual data analysis. Sign up for a free trial today and see how we can help you start the new year on the path to commercial success.