AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Paramedics in the college town of Amherst say a rising number of college-age women need medical attention for alcohol abuse.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/RKbkPC ) Fire Chief Walter Nelson says that so far this fall, on the three college campuses in town, 43 women and 32 men were brought to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for alcohol-related problems.

Nelson said the Fire Department began tracking calls by gender in the fall of 2011 when ambulance workers noticed more young women needing medical attention. He says women may get drunk more easily than men or men may be reluctant to call for help.

Sally Linowski, assistant dean of students at UMass, says drinking by college-age women nationally is on par with that of men and rates of drinking have been rising in the past 15 years.

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