Risks of Alcohol Abuse on Women

Women and Alcohol

Fewer women than men drink alcohol but they appear to be more vulnerable than men to the harmful consequences of alcohol use. When drinking the same concentrations of alcohol, women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood and become more impaired than men. Among heavy drinkers, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics, including deaths from suicides, alcohol-related accidents, heart disease, and stroke and liver cirrhosis.

  • Studies of the general population indicate that fewer women than men drink. Women are also less likely than men to drink heavily (heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks per occasion on five or more days in the past 30 days).

  • Moderation is defined as no more than one drink per day for women. One drink is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

  • It is estimated that of the 15.1 million alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent individuals in the United States, approximately 4.6 million (nearly one-third) are women.

  • Women become intoxicated after drinking smaller quantities of alcohol than are needed to produce intoxication in men.

  • Chronic heavy alcohol consumption exacts a greater physical toll on women than on men. Female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics. A greater percentage of female alcoholics also die from suicides, alcohol-related injuries, circulatory disorders, and cirrhosis of the liver.

  • Increasing evidence suggests that the detrimental effects of alcohol on the liver are more severe for women than for men. Women develop alcoholic liver disease, particularly alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis, after a comparatively shorter period of heavy drinking and at a lower level of daily drinking than men.

  • Women who drink may also be at an increased risk for breast cancer. In one study, women who drank two to five alcoholic drinks each day were 41 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than nondrinkers.

  • Alcohol use during pregnancy is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in the United States. Researchers in Seattle, Washington estimate that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) or alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) occurs in one of every 100 live births.

  • Since 1990 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have stated that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should not drink alcohol.

  • Brain shrinkage in men and women was found to be similar despite significantly shorter periods of alcohol exposure or drinking histories in women.

  • Women with chronic pancreatitis have shorter drinking histories than that of men. Women with alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis were found to have consumed less alcohol per body weight per day than men. These findings indicate that women are more vulnerable to alcoholic liver disease than men.

  • One study showed that 40% of alcoholic women attempted to commit suicide, compared to 8.8% of non-alcoholic women.

  • Age of Initiating Drinking. Results of a large nationwide survey show that more than 40 percent of persons who initiated drinking before age 15 were diagnosed as alcohol dependent at some point in their lives. Rates of lifetime dependence declined to approximately 10 percent among those who began drinking at age 20 or older. The annual rate of this decline was similar for both genders . Although in the past women generally started drinking at later ages than men, more recent survey data show that this difference has nearly disappeared.

Read Drug-Free Action Alliance's Press Release on Women and Unborn Children at High Risk from Alcohol Use

Are Women More Vulnerable to Alcohol's Effects?

A Commentary by former NIAAA Director Enoch Gordis, M.D.

“As can be seen by the varied types of information reported on in this Alcohol Alert, the alcohol research field has begun to recognize the importance of understanding gender differences in how alcohol is used, in the consequences of alcohol use, and in the development of alcohol dependence. For example, where women and men drink at the same rate, women continue to be at higher risk than are men for certain serious medical consequences of alcohol use, including liver, brain, and heart damage. We know that some of this risk is due to gender differences in metabolism; it also could quite possibly be due to gender-related differences in brain chemistry, in genetic risk factors, or to entirely different factors that are currently unknown. The more science can tell us about gender-related aspects of alcohol-related problems-not only what they are but why-the better job we will be able to do to prevent and treat those problems in all populations.â€

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