It appears as if more and more Americans have been developing alcoholic tendencies over the last decade. The Journal of the American Medical Association released two surveys, one from 2001-2002 and other from 2012-2013. JAMA surveyed approximately 79,000 participants, all were Americans aged 18 and older. The association uncovered a growing trend in America’s alcohol problem.
The study revealed that alcohol use-disorders (and alcoholism in general) had increased 49 percent from 2002 until 2013. The results of these national surveys demonstrated that alcoholism increased from a percentage of 8.5 to as high as 12.7 a decade later.
If these surveys truly reflect a broad trend of alcoholism within the general populace than roughly 1 out of 8 Americans are now suffering from alcoholism, according to analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Alcohol use has also been sharply increasing across the board. According to JAMA’s study, the percentage of people who admitted using alcohol within the past 12 months increased by 11.2 points between 11 years of the survey. High-risking is also on the rise, as it has increased 30 percent.
What is defined as “high risk drinking”?
Apparently, the bar is incredibly low when you consider someone a “high risk drinker,” according to JAMA. If you’re a guy who consumes five drinks or more in one sitting than you are defined as a “high risk drinker.” On the other hand, women are placed in this category if they consume four or more drinks in one outing.
According to JAMA’s survey, 29.6 million Americans are putting their own health are risk for their boozing habits.
The groups who are seeing the greatest rise in alcoholism in American are women, old folks, and ethnic minorities.
PSA from the Editor: Are you or anyone you know suffering from the hell of alcoholism? Visit Alcoholics Anonymous and you might just save a life.
