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Binge drinking is not often recognized as a women’s
health problem but nearly 14 million U.S. women
binge drink about three times a month, and consume
an average of six drinks per binge, according to a
Vital Signs report released from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The report highlights how binge drinking puts women
at increased risk for many health problems such as
breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, heart
disease, and unintended pregnancy. Pregnant women
who binge drink expose a developing baby to high
levels of alcohol, which can lead to fetal alcohol
spectrum disorders and sudden infant death syndrome.
In addition, the report finds that about 1 in 8
women and 1 in 5 high school girls report binge
drinking. Binge drinking was most common among women
aged 18-34 and high school girls, whites and
Hispanics, and women with household incomes of
$75,000 or more. Half of all high school girls who
drink alcohol report binge drinking.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more
drinks on an occasion for women and girls. Drinking
too much, including binge drinking, causes about
23,000 deaths among women and girls in the United
States each year.
CDC scientists looked at the drinking behavior of
approximately 278,000 U.S. women aged 18 and older
for the past 30 days through data collected from the
2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and
for approximately 7,500 U.S. high school girls from
the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
“It is alarming to see that binge drinking is so
common among women and girls, and that women and
girls are drinking so much when they do,” said
Robert Brewer, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Alcohol
Program at CDC. “The good news is that the same
scientifically proven strategies for communities and
clinical settings that we know can prevent binge
drinking in the overall population can also work to
prevent binge drinking among women and girls.”
For more information
http://www.cdc.gov/
(MDN)
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