Drinking and Alcoholism Facts

The following characteristics of alcoholism leave little doubt as to the devastating impact of the disease:

• Alcoholism is a progressive disease that generally first appears between the ages of 20 and 40, although children can become alcoholics.
• Drinking patterns vary by age and sex. At all ages, two to five times more males than females are heavy drinkers. For both males and females, drinking prevalence is highest and abstention lowest in the 21 to 34 age range. Among those 65 years and older, abstainers exceed drinkers in both sexes.
• Alcohol dependence tends to cluster in families.
• Alcohol dependence is often associated with depression. Depression typically makes its appearance before the drinking. Studies show that, among the general population, those with diagnosable depression are at a somewhat elevated risk for development of alcoholism. Among women, however, the risk is almost tripled.
• Women seem also to be more sensitive to alcohol than men. When differences in weight are factored out, women still seem to get higher blood levels of alcohol from drinking--a fact that may increase their risk.
• It takes five to 15 years for an adult to become an alcoholic; an adolescent can become an alcoholic, by contrast, in six to 18 months of heavy drinking. Younger alcohol abusers are also more likely to die of alcohol poisoning through hypoglycemia because their livers cannot metabolize the alcohol as efficiently as the adult liver.

Alcohol overdose itself may also be fatal.

Drinking Patterns and Impact of Alcoholism

• Generally, abuse occurs in one of three patterns: regular, daily intoxication; drinking large amounts of alcohol at specific times, such as every weekend; and long periods of sobriety interspersed with binges of heavy daily drinking that last for weeks or months.
• As drinking continues, dependence develops and sobriety brings serious withdrawal symptoms such as delirium tremens (DTs) that include physical trembling, delusions, hallucinations, sweating and high blood pressure.
• Long-term, heavy drinking can cause dementia, in which the individual loses memory and the ability to think abstractly, to recall names of common objects, to use correct words to describe recognized objects or to follow simple instructions.
• Physical complications of chronic alcohol dependence include cirrhosis (liver damage), hepatitis, altered brain-cell functioning, nerve damage, gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), premature aging, impotence and infertility, and a variety of reproductive disorders. Some researchers suspect the hormonal imbalances caused by alcohol dependence actually fool the body into shutting off its supply of natural opiates (endorphins). Chronic alcohol dependence also increases the risk and severity of heart disease, pneumonia, tuberculosis and neurological disorders.
• Many studies have strongly suggested that in pregnant women alcohol abuse has harmful effects on the development of the fetus' brain and other parts of its central nervous system, an effect known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in children, and studies have shown that 8,000 American babies are born with FAS each year. Researchers are discovering biological markers that could eventually identify many potential alcoholics. Preliminary studies indicate that alcoholics are born with a faulty liver enzyme system that may lead to their addiction, an encouraging twist to the existing knowledge that alcoholics do not metabolize alcohol normally. Still other studies reveal that the majority of alcoholics have abnormal brain waves and memory impairments. This appears to be true of their young children as well, even though the offspring may never have been exposed to alcohol. This and other studies suggest that children of alcoholics are at increased risk themselves for alcoholism and addiction, as well as other psychological problems linked to the addiction's disruptive effect on family life. This makes children of alcoholics important targets for alcohol abuse prevention efforts.

Sources: 1. American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. 2. National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Definition of Alcoholism Fact Sheet. 3. NIMH, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse Fact Sheet. Updated April 2007.

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