Data from a 1988 survey of US drinking habits and related problems revealed differences in male and female patterns of alcohol consumption. Men were more likely than women to be current drinkers (64 v. 41%), and beer accounted for a larger proportion of their overall intake. Men's average daily ethanol intake was about twice as high as that of women, 17.5 v. 8.9 g. Adjustment for differences in body weight and composition substantially reduced the male-to-female ratio of consumption. Men were more likely than women to be classified as heavy drinkers, and the excess proportion of males so categorized increased with the severity of the measure of heavy drinking.
Data from a national representative sample of US adults were analyzed to determine the association between the relative frequency of heavy drinking (the proportion of drinking occasions on which 5+ drinks were consumed) and past-year alcohol dependence, adjusting for the influences of average ethanol intake and sociodemographic factors. Fifty-seven percent of current drinkers reported never drinking 5+ drinks, and 21% drank 5+ drinks at least once but on less than 10% of all drinking occasions. Nine percent reported drinking 5+ drinks on at least half of all drinking occasions. Average daily intake was positively correlated with the relative frequency of heavy drinking, and both consumption measures were positively associated with the risk of alcohol dependence. Increases in either relative frequency of heavy drinking or average ethanol intake reduced, but did not eliminate, the effect of the other on the risk of dependence. The excess risk of dependence associated with frequent heavy drinking varied among population subgroups and was increased by age, education, and female gender.
OBJECTIVES. Several advisory committees have recently recommended that alcohol consumption be limited to moderate levels. Moderate drinking has been defined generally as not more than two drinks per day for healthy men and not more than one drink per day for healthy, nonpregnant women. The impact of reducing alcohol consumption to within the recommended guidelines on the prevalence of two serious alcohol-related problems was examined by modeling the relationship between average daily ethanol intake and alcohol abuse and dependence. METHODS. The recommended drinking guidelines, both in their existing form and modified by a measure of impairment, were applied to the observed distribution of consumption derived from a large representative survey of the US general population. RESULTS. The results demonstrated that restricting drinking to the maximum allowable levels under the existing and the modified guidelines would reduce the prevalence of alcohol abuse and dependence by 14.2% and 47.1%, respectively, in the adult US general population. CONCLUSIONS. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the validity of the assumptions underlying the models and the nature and direction of future research that would form the basis of newly developed guidelines for safe drinking limits.
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