Binge Drinking

Defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., within a few hours) on at least 1 day in the past 30 days.Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, September 3). Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume II. Technical Appendices and Selected Data Tables Series H-18 (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-18 ed.)  (BKD462, SMA 02-3759)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Statistics
Almost half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2001 survey (48.3 percent). This translates to an estimated 109 million people. Both the rate of alcohol use and the number of drinkers increased from 2000, when 104 million, or 46.6 percent, of people aged 12 or older reported drinking in the past 30 days.

Approximately one fifth (20.5 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey. Although the number of current drinkers increased between 2000 and 2001, the number of those reporting binge drinking did not change significantly.

The highest prevalence of both binge and heavy drinking in 2001 was for young adults aged 18 to 25, with the peak rate occurring at age 21. The rate of binge drinking was 38.7 percent for young adults and 48.2 percent at age 21. Heavy alcohol use was reported by 13.6 percent of persons aged 18 to 25, and by 17.8 percent of persons aged 21. Binge and heavy alcohol use rates decreased faster with increasing age than did rates of past month alcohol use. While 55.2 percent of the population aged 45 to 49 in 2001 were current drinkers, 19.1 percent of persons within this age range binge drank and 5.4 percent drank heavily (Figure 3.1). Binge and heavy drinking were relatively rare among people aged 65 or older, with reported rates of 5.8 and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Among youths aged 12 to 17, an estimated 17.3 percent used alcohol in the month prior to the survey interview. This rate was higher than the rate of youth alcohol use reported in 2000 (16.4 percent). Of all youths, 10.6 percent were binge drinkers, and 2.5 percent were heavy drinkers. These are roughly the same percentages as those reported in 2000 (10.4 and 2.6 percent, respectively).

Heavy use - Five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 5 different days in the past 30 daysSource: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, September 4). Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-17 ed.)  (BKD461, SMA 02-3758)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

General
Studies show that more than 35 percent of adults with an alcohol problem developed symptoms—such as binge drinking—by age 19. Long-term use risks liver damage, pancreatitis, certain cancers, and literal shrinkage of the brain. Alcohol use is the second-leading cause of dementia; one simply ages quicker on alcohol. In 1998, there were 15,935 alcohol-related deaths in vehicular crashes. Though most college drinkers would deny it, young people do die solely from drinking. In 1995, 318 people ages 15 to 24 died from alcohol poisoning alone, many of them after a night binge at college. At the University of Virginia, a tradition that has seniors drinking a fifth of hard liquor at the final game of the football season (the so-called "Fourth-year Fifth") has killed 18 students since 1990.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Prevention Alert: The Binge Drinking Epidemic  (Volume 5, Number 6 ed.) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.