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Drinking disparities between men, women decreasing in the US

Between 2002 and 2012, men consumed more alcohol than women, however, gaps between men and women in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms narrowed over the same time period, according to recently published data.

“We found that over that period of time, differences in measures such as current drinking, number of drinking days per month, reaching criteria for an alcohol use disorder and driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year all narrowed for females and males. Males still consume more alcohol, but the differences between men and women are diminishing,” Aaron White, PhD, senior scientific advisor at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in a press release.

White and colleagues analyzed data from the 2002 to 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to assess trends in alcohol consumption among adolescents aged 12 years and older, and adults in the United States.

Results demonstrated that in 2012, 48.3% of women reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days, up from 44.9% in 2002. A smaller change in 30-day consumption was seen among men, dropping from 57.4% in 2002 to 56.1% in 2012.

Average number of days drinking per month increased from 6.8 to 7.3 among women and decreased from 9.9 to 9.5 among men, according to the researchers.

Changes in binge drinking were seen among both men and women, aged 18 to 25 years, who were not attending college. White and colleagues found a significant increase in binge drinking among women and a significant decrease in binge drinking among men. No changes in binge drinking were seen among college students of the same age.

The combination of alcohol consumption and marijuana use increased from 15% in 2002 to 19% in 2012 among men aged 18 to 25 years, but remained at roughly 10% among women during the study period.

“Reasons for converging patterns of alcohol use are unclear and do not appear to be easily explainable by recent trends in employment status, pregnancy status or marital status. More research is needed to identify the psychosocial and environmental contributors to these changes and to assess implications for prevention and treatment efforts,” White and colleagues concluded.

Disclosures: Healio.com/Family Medicine was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.