By Shelby Lin Erdman, CNN Updated 4:54 PM ET, Thu January 16,
2020
(CNN)Adults in the United States who binge drink
are consuming even more alcohol per binging episode, according to a new study
published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers analyzed data from the Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System over a six-year period and discovered that the
annual number of binge drinks among adults who reported excessive drinking
jumped on average from 472 in 2011 to 529 in 2017. That's a 12% increase.
The CDC defines binge drinking as five drinks or
more for men or four or more for women on a single occasion. Binge drinking has
serious health risks, according to the CDC, including car accidents, domestic
violence, STDs, unintentional pregnancy, stroke, heart and liver disease.
For 2011 to 2017, the number of drinks
consumed during a binge increased from 587 to 666 on average for men and from
256 to 290 for women.
The study noted significant increases among
people with lower education levels and household incomes. Those without a high
school diploma had a spike of 45.8%, from 646 to 942 drinks a year. Binge
drinks among people with household incomes less than $25,000 a year rose from
543 drinks a year to 673.
"Socioeconomic disparities in the total
number of binge drinks per adult who reported binge drinking also might have
contributed to the lower life expectancies reported among persons with lower
socioeconomic status in the United States," the CDC said in the study.
In 2017, the number of binge drinks pear year
among adult binge drinkers ranged from 320 per year in Massachusetts to 1,219
in Wyoming. The number of drinks among those who reported binge drinking
increased in nine states -- Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New
York, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia -- while the number of drinks decreased
significantly in Massachusetts and West Virginia.
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