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Heightened Risk of AUD Linked With Binge Consumption in Moderate Drinkers
Moderate drinkers who binge drink alcohol are at a significantly higher risk of developing alcohol-related problems, including alcohol use disorder, than drinkers who consume the same amount of alcohol overall but do not binge, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
These indivuduals “should be included in efforts to reduce alcohol problems in adults,” researchers said in their findings published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The UT Austin researchers found that moderate average drinkers who engage in binge drinking were 5 times more likely to experience multiple alcohol problems and twice as likely to experience more alcohol problems after 9 years.
“What this means is that an individual whose total consumption is 7 drinks on Saturday night presents a greater risk profile than someone whose total consumption is a daily drink with dinner, even though their average drinking level is the same,” UT Austin psychology professor Charles Holahan, PhD, the study’s lead author, said in a news release.
While most binge drinking research tends to focus on minors and college students, the behavior is most common among adults over the age of 30. Further, binge drinking patterns are frequently overlooked, as alcohol consumption research often looks at a person’s average level of drinking. When drinking patterns are overlooked, many who consume alcohol at a moderate average level overall are under the misconception that their consumption is safe, even if they engage in binge drinking periodically, noted study co-author Rudolf Moos, PhD, a professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Drs Holahan and Moos and their colleagues looked at survey responses of 1229 drinkers at least 30 years of age. Data was taken from 2 waves of the Midlife Development in the United States study, allowing the researchers to analyze the effects of respondents’ drinking patterns over a 9-year period. In reviewing the data, the researchers found that most cases of binge drinking—and reports of multiple alcohol problems—occurred among moderate average drinkers.
“These findings point to a need for alcohol interventions targeting moderate average level drinkers in addition to conventional strategies focusing on the higher risk, but smaller, population of habitually high-level drinkers,” Dr Holahan said in the release.
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