Clinical Symptoms and Adverse Effects Associated With Energy Drink Consumption in Adolescents
Abstract
Objective: The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of energy drink consumption by adolescents, to identify associated clinical symptoms and adverse effects, and to gain an understanding to the motivation behind its consumption. Methods: A prospective, questionnaire-based study was conducted at 2 emergency departments from June 2011 to June 2013. The questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Stratification was performed on the basis of frequency of consumption: frequent consumption (at least once a month) and infrequent consumption (less frequent than once a month). Results: Data analysis was performed on 612 completed questionnaires. Two hundred two responders (33%) were considered frequent energy drink consumers. Frequent consumers were more likely to be involved in high-risk behaviors and more likely to consume other caffeinated drinks. In the previous 6 months, frequent energy drink consumers were more likely to report headache (76%), anger (47%), and increased urination (24%) and were more likely to require medical evaluation for headache (41%) and difficulty breathing (22%). Frequent energy drink consumers were more likely to believe that energy drinks “help me do better in school” (12%), “help me do better in sports” (35%), “are just for fun” (46%), “help me stay up at night” (67%), and “make me concentrate/focus better” (34%). Conclusions: Clarifying common misconceptions associated with energy drink consumption, especially in high-risk adolescents and frequent energy drink consumers, may decrease the frequency of symptoms experienced by adolescents, such as headache and difficulty breathing, requiring medical evaluation.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Others reported an association between energy drink intake and increased headaches.
“Some studies found evidence for an association between energy drink consumption and sleep-related issues such as sleep dissatisfaction, tiredness/fatigue and late bedtime [92, 93, 95], and others reported an association between energy drink intake and increased headaches [91–93].”
From The negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on children’s health: an update of the literature (2018) · cites this paper as [91]
A number of cross-sectional studies examined the effects of energy drink consumption among children and adolescents, with each study often reporting on multiple outcomes.
“A number of cross-sectional studies examined the effects of energy drink consumption among children and adolescents [90–97], with each study often reporting on multiple outcomes.”
From The negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on children’s health: an update of the literature (2018) · cites this paper as [91]
Cites
Caffeinated energy drinks a growing problem
Reissig, C. J., Strain, E. C., & Griffiths, R. R. (2009) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.08.001 · Cited by 1,026 · see citing works
Health effects of energy drinks on children, adolescents, and young adults
Seifert, S. M., Schaechter, J. L., Hershorin, E. R., & Lipshultz, S. E. (2011) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3592 · Cited by 893 · see citing works
Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?
Schneider, M., & Benjamin, H. J. (2011) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2011-0965 · Cited by 403 · see citing works
Wolk, B., Ganetsky, M., & Babu, K. M. (2012) · Current Opinion in Pediatrics · doi:10.1097/mop.0b013e3283506827 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Consumption of nutritional supplements among adolescents: usage and perceived benefits
O’Dea, J. (2003) · Health Education Research · doi:10.1093/her/18.1.98 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Energy Drinks: The New Eye-Opener For Adolescents
Babu, K. M., Church, R. J., & Lewander, W. J. (2008) · Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.cpem.2007.12.002 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
The “High” Risk of Energy Drinks
Arria, A. M. (2011) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2011.109 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Trends in Caffeine Intake Among US Children and Adolescents
Branum, A. M., Rossen, L. M., & Schoendorf, K. C. (2014) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2013-2877 · Cited by 151 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Recent publications have indicated that approximately 30% to 50% of children, adolescents, and young adults reported consuming at least 1 energy drink per month and approximately 75% of children consume caffeine on any given day, with energy drinks representing 6% of the caffeine intake in 2009-2010.(5) Although the U…”
BackgroundAn analysis of energy-drink toxicity in the National Poison Data System
Seifert, S. M., Seifert, S. A., Schaechter, J. L., Bronstein, A. C., Benson, B. E., Hershorin, E. R., Arheart, K. L., Franco, V. I., & Lipshultz, S. E. (2013) · Clinical Toxicology · doi:10.3109/15563650.2013.820310 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Energy Drink Use and Adverse Effects Among Emergency Department Patients
Nordt, S. P., Vilke, G. M., Clark, R. F., Cantrell, F. L., Chan, T. C., Galinato, M. H., Nguyen, V., & Castillo, E. M. (2012) · Journal of Community Health · doi:10.1007/s10900-012-9549-9 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Energy drinks for children and adolescents
Oddy, W. H., & O’Sullivan, T. A. (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b5268 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Pennington, N., Johnson, M., Delaney, E. A., & Blankenship, M. B. (2010) · The Journal of School Nursing · doi:10.1177/1059840510374188 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Jackson, D. A. E., Cotter, B. V., Merchant, R. C., Babu, K. M., Baird, J. R., Nirenberg, T., & Linakis, J. G. (2013) · Clinical Toxicology · doi:10.3109/15563650.2013.820311 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Energy Drink and Other Substance Use Among Adolescent and Young Adult Emergency Department Patients
Cotter, B. V., Jackson, D. A. E., Merchant, R. C., Babu, K. M., Baird, J. R., Nirenberg, T. D., & Linakis, J. G. (2013) · Pediatric Emergency Care · doi:10.1097/pec.0b013e3182a6403d · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Caffeine Use by Children: The Quest for Enhancement
Bramstedt, K. A. (2007) · Substance Use & Misuse · doi:10.1080/10826080701208962 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on children’s health: an update of the literature
Bleich, S. N., & Vercammen, K. A. (2018) · BMC Obesity · doi:10.1186/s40608-017-0178-9 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Al-Shaar, L., Vercammen, K., Lu, C., Richardson, S., Tamez, M., & Mattei, J. (2017) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00225 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bashir, D., Reed-Schrader, E., Olympia, R. P., Brady, J., Rivera, R., Serra, T., & Weber, C.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bashir, Dalia
- Venue
- Pediatric Emergency Care
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 751-755
- ISSN
- 0749-5161 (ISSN-L)
- 1535-1815
- OpenAlex
- W2364459341
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 2.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pediatric Emergency Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Coffee research and impacts
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- energy drinks, adolescents, energy drink consumption, caffeine, headache, adverse effects, high-risk behaviors, consumer motivation, consumption frequency, emergency department visits
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Prevalence, Substance-Related Disorders, Energy Drinks
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
