Excessive alcohol use is dangerous to a woman’s health. Long-term heavy drinking increases the risks for high blood pressure, certain heart disorders, stroke, certain forms of cancer and liver disorders. While chronic alcohol use is a known health problem, binge drinking (having five or more drinks on at least one occasion) is also a hazardous form of alcohol abuse. (1)
What percentage of women have had five or more drinks on at least one occasion during the past month?
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing the percentage of adults who engage in binge drinking to six percent or less (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 26-11c].
Data Source: Binge Drinking (%), 2005
EXPLANATION:
This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who reported having five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the last month
SOURCE:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2005, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp. The national number is the median of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for race/ethnicity and age are three-year averages from 2003-2005 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population. Note that data for race/ethnicity reported in the Asian/Pacific Islander column reflect only Asian data for 49 states and the District of Columbia and reflect only Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander data for Hawaii. The 2004 data from Hawaii are not available as part of the 2004 BRFSS aggregate dataset. For Hawaii, data for race/ethnicity and age are reported as two-year averages from 2003 and 2005. National Center for Health Statistics, Health Data for All Ages: Health Care Access and Use, Health Status and Disability, and Health Conditions and Risk Factors Tables, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_data_for_all_ages.htm.