National Data Regarding the Prevalence of Alcohol Consumption
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 25% of adults 18 years and older have had at least “one heavy drinking day” in the past year. Heavy drinking days are defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women. The CDC estimates that over 22,000 people died in 2017 from alcoholic liver disease, and 35,823 people died from alcohol-induced deaths.
As noted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 6.6 percent of adults over the age of 18 admitted to engaging in heavy alcohol use in the past month. While millions of men and women have Alcohol Use Disorder, as little as 7.9 percent received treatment. Over 400,000 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 are believed to have alcohol use disorder, but only around 5 percent sought treatment.
The economic burden of alcohol is astounding. In 2010, it was estimated that it cost the country nearly 250 billion most of which was related to binge drinking. Heavy consumption of alcohol also has a devastating impact on our health care system. As reported by the NIAAA, “alcohol-related liver disease was the primary cause of almost 1 in 3 liver transplants in the United States” in 2009.
Heavy alcohol use can affect the young and old. The NIAAA states that nearly one-quarter of all college students surveyed report some sort of academic consequence related to drinking. On average over 1800 college students die each year from “alcohol-related unintentional injuries.” Underage drinking is a problem throughout the country with nearly 30 percent of 15-year-olds reporting that they had consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime. Underage alcohol use can have catastrophic consequences including affecting normal development and increasing the likelihood of developing Alcohol Use Disorder.