Alcohol Use Disorder in Women: Identifying Signs, Root Causes, and Impacts

Compared with abstainers, women who averaged roughly four drinks a day had nearly twice the risk of hypertension, and women averaging roughly eight drinks a day had nearly three times the risk (Taylor et al. 2009). In contrast to studies finding beneficial effects, a women and alcoholism meta-analysis of six studies (Samokhvalov et al. 2010) found that women’s risks of atrial fibrillation (AF) increased steadily with increasing alcohol consumption. Whereas women who averaged up to two drinks a day did not have significantly higher risks than abstainers, women who consumed more than two to three drinks daily had a 17 percent increased risk of AF, and women who consumed more than four drinks daily had twice the risk of AF.

Drinking during pregnancy–Never a good idea

“The gender gap is narrowing,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Ibraheem Karaye, a professor of population health and director of the health science program at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Dr. Schneekloth conducts research in the field of addiction psychiatry, particularly alcoholism research and transplant psychiatry. Alcohol is a depressant, which is why it can initially help you snooze — but that means it can also worsen mood swings. Women prone to or experiencing depression should consider minimizing or avoiding alcohol, advised Juliana Kling, M.D., M.P.H., assistant director of the Women’s Health Center at the Mayo Clinic.

Drinking during pregnancy increases the risk of :

The few studies that enrolled both men and women did not examine the impact of gender differences. As evidenced by the important findings reported in the recent papers included in this ACER virtual issue on women and alcohol, the field has made substantial progress incorporating a women’s focus across the full spectrum of research methodologies from preclinical to applied studies. But as rates of hazardous alcohol use by women and men converge, it is critical that we continue to frame our research questions with a focus on sex and gender similarities and differences. Out of all individuals in substance use treatment, a greater proportion of women reported either living with a child or being a parent when they started treatment compared with men (58% of women, 48% of men) 17.

• Moms’ alcohol abuse may shape your children’s lives and can lead to serious health, legal, and family consequences.
• However, there has otherwise been limited attention to gender-specific ways in which women’s drinking may be related to AUDs.
• Research is severely lacking in these areas, especially with regard to both acute but chronic adaptations.
• But in alcoholic women, the reward centers were larger than in the non-alcoholic women – implying that their brains were less damaged than their male counterparts.

Drinking in Dangerous Situations

These damages can include brain shrinking, memory loss, or learning difficulties. As a result, not much is known about how alcohol affects a woman’s brain. There have been studies that indicate AUD and its damage progress much more rapidly among women than men. These studies have also been unable to provide a solution to this problem.

Withdrawal Symptoms

Importantly, they point to large gaps in information that urgently need research attention as rates of alcohol use by women increase and converge with those of men. Possible benefits of moderate drinking for cardiovascular health for women over the age of 55 have received attention. The relationships between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease are complex 33. This is reflected in the guidelines from the UK Chief Medical Officers’, which highlight that recent evidence suggests “net benefits from small amounts of alcohol are less than previously thought and are significant in only a limited part of the population”. They note this benefit only applies to women over 55 years, “for whom the maximum benefit is gained when drinking around 5 units a week, with some beneficial effect up to around 14 units a week” 34. Older women have less lean muscle mass and continue to lose this with age, which makes them more susceptible to effects of alcohol.

Alcohol Use Disorder in Women: Identifying Signs, Root Causes, and Impacts

Using data derived from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a recent paper by Williams and colleagues (2017) included in this ACER virtual issue examined changes in heavy drinking trajectories among men and women as a function of race and ethnicity. In contrast to a decline in heavy drinking among younger men, there was an increase in heavy drinking frequency among younger White and Hispanic women. In both cohorts, heavy drinking among Black women was lower than that of White and Hispanic women. The authors attribute the increased heavy drinking frequency of younger White and Hispanic women to changes in women’s social roles and norms across recent decades, including higher education attainment and rates of employment outside the home, as well as later age at first marriage and childbearing. Over the past few decades, alcohol use declined among emerging adults, although the declines were smaller than those seen among adolescents.21 Gender gaps narrowed as well. Historically, male college students were more likely to drink and did alcoholism symptoms so more heavily than female college students, and college students drank far more than their peers not enrolled in college.

The health consequences of alcohol abuse in women

In the night time environment, nightlife venue marketing on social media uses women’s bodies and sexualities including photographs of female patrons in a way that reproduces the male gaze. There is evidence that some of the negative impact of alcohol on fertility can be reversed. For example, a small study from New Zealand found women who reduce their drinking or do not drink at all during fertility treatment were twice as likely to conceive as those who did not alter their drinking patterns before treatment 46. One Danish study found that even small amounts of alcohol (one to six drinks a week) can affect a woman’s fertility, with those drinking one to six drinks a week almost twice as likely to experience infertility compared with those drinking less than one drink a week 45. A comprehensive review published by the World Health Organization in 2004 established there is a clear linear dose-response relationship between alcohol consumption and breast cancer 36.

We offer treatment for chemical dependencies such as cocaine addiction, drug addiction and alcoholism. It is extremely important to us that you receive the highest quality medical care from our qualified staff during your stay. Studies show that men are more likely than women to take risks during periods of excessive drinking, further increasing their risk of injury or death. In fact, men consistently have higher rates of alcohol-related deaths and hospitalizations than women. Women typically have less body mass and less water content in their bodies than men. Body water diffuses alcohol content as it’s digested, which means women have a higher concentration of alcohol in their blood stream when they drink.

• Despite there being a great acknowledgement of the physical, mental, emotional and cultural differences between men and women, female-only rehabs are very few and far between.
• Women are becoming the fastest-growing population of substance abusers in the United States.
• Without proper treatment, the consequences for women with an alcohol use disorder can be devastating.
• Many alcohol rehabs and recovery programs focus on helping women stop drinking while also working through issues related to alcohol misuse like trauma, depression, or sexual abuse.

As a result, alcohol is more concentrated in a woman’s body; blood alcohol concentration rises faster and stays elevated longer in women than men. We also know that there are sex differences in brain anatomy, neurochemistry and function. The https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/the-6-stages-of-alcoholic-recovery-timeline/ survey also asked what sources of support women would seek out if they had an alcohol or drug problem; each participant was asked to select all sources that applied to her. Figure 2A shows the percentage who strongly agreed with the source of help when it appeared as a statement (e.g., “I would seek help from a health care provider”).

For example, researchers have found a link between regular alcohol consumption and life-threatening conditions, such as liver disease, heart damage, and an increased risk of certain types of cancer. The high rates of heavy drinking reported by survey participants are not surprising, given how the survey was advertised. One would expect women who fill out an alcohol use survey to be more likely than the general population to report heavy and at-risk alcohol use. Another large national survey called NESARC showed that in 2013, 9% of women engaged in high-risk drinking over the past year (Grant et al., 2017). In addition, the 2016 SAMHSA survey reported that only 4% of women age 12 and older engaged in heavy drinking. These results are much lower than those found in the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation survey.