TOPLINE:
Past-month binge drinking between 2021 and 2023 was higher among young adult women than among men, reversing a recent period. However, men still drank more heavily than women overall.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health that included adults aged 18 years or older from 2017 to 2019 and 2021 to 2023 to examine sex-based differences in past-month binge and overall heavy drinking.
- A total of 267,843 respondents were included, with data weighted to generate nationally representative estimates (weighted percentage of women, 51.5%).
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration defined binge drinking as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks for men and four or more drinks for women on a single occasion.
- Heavy drinking was defined as binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past month for both men and women.
TAKEAWAY:
- In 2017 to 2019 period, women had lower rates of past-month binge drinking than men overall (22.6 vs 29.2 per 100 persons; 95% CI, −7.3 to −5.8) and among those aged 18-25 years (36.4 vs 37.7 per 100 persons; 95% CI, −2.3 to −1.1).
- From 2021 to 2023, the rates of overall past-month binge drinking were lower in women than in men (21.8 vs 25.7 per 100 persons).
- However, women specifically aged 18-25 years surpassed men in past-month binge drinking (31.6 vs 29.9 per 100 persons; 95% CI, 0.2-3.3).
- Women consistently showed significantly lower rates of past-month heavy drinking than men across all age groups in both periods studied.
IN PRACTICE:
“Given rising alcohol-related liver disease and mortality among females relative to males, clinicians should ensure that young adult female populations are being appropriately screened for binge and heavy drinking to mitigate downstream alcohol-related health impacts,” authors of the study wrote.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Bryant Shuey, MD, MPH, of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. It was published online on April 16, 2025, in JAMA.
LIMITATIONS:
This study relied on self-reported accounts of drinking. The introduction of web-based surveys in 2020 restricted comparisons between the 2017 and 2019 and 2021 and 2023 periods. Additionally, the assumption that methodological changes did not differentially affect estimates between genders may have limited the study’s conclusions.
DISCLOSURES:
This study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Three authors reported receiving grants, and one author reported receiving personal fees outside the submitted work.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.