Alcoholism is not just a 'man's disease' anymore

• A new examination of data on similarly aged groups, compared across decades, has found substantial increases in drinking and alcohol dependence among women.
• Increases were particularly notable among white and Hispanic women – beginning with those born in the United States after World War II.

Cross-sectional studies, which collect information at a single point in time, generally find that young Americans report having more lifetime alcohol problems than older Americans, despite having had less time to develop these problems. But these studies are hampered by the fact that people of different ages may remember or report problems to different degrees. A new examination of data, collected on similarly aged groups one decade apart, has found substantial increases in drinking and alcohol dependence among women – particularly white and Hispanic women – beginning with those born in the United States after World War II.

Results are published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

“By looking at two different cross-sectional surveys that asked the same questions in the same manner, but were conducted 10 years apart, we were able to compare, for example, 30 - 40 year olds in 2001 with 30 - 40 year olds in 1991,” explained Richard A. Grucza, an epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author. “Essentially, this allowed us to correct for the effects of age on reporting. When we did this, we found that the tendency for young people to have higher levels of lifetime alcohol dependence clearly remained for women, although it disappeared for men.”

Furthermore, added Shelly F. Greenfield, associate clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program at McLean Hospital, prevalence surveys are inclusive. “Epidemiologic surveys document the prevalence of an illness such as alcohol dependence in the entire population rather than just one segment of the population, such as those seeking treatment,” she said. “This allows us to track trends in illnesses – including whether certain people are more vulnerable for a particular disease, at what age they manifest symptoms, and how quickly the illness progresses.”