Binge drinking is often discussed as a problem for college students or even young adults. It has become a focus of concern for college administrators and leaders in college-based communities as the activity continues to grow among the college sect. A new study highlights however, the young are not the only ones hitting the bottle hard.
According to the LA Times, a new study finds that among men and women 50 to 63 years old, nearly one in four men and one in ten women is considered a binge drinker. What this means is at some point in the past 30 days, a man has downed five alcoholic drinks and a women has consumed four alcoholic drinks in a single two-hour sitting.
This study also found binge drinkers are more likely to use tobacco or illicit drugs than those who do not drink. Among women, binge drinking was more common among those with a job and those using prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes. For men, binge drinking was common if they were unmarried and had higher incomes.
Dan Blazer, a Duke University psychiatrist and one of the authors of the study, highlights the important role a physician plays in this process as they should be asking their patients more pointed and specific questions about alcohol use. He believes this is imperative as binge drinking tends to fly under the radar of standard alcohol-disorder screens.
Among those studied in this recent survey, they are less likely to be risky drinkers than young adults. Within the younger sect, binge drinking occurred at a rate of 41.7 percent for college students versus 37.1 percent for those not attending college.
For the older population, they engage in binge drinking more than the generation ahead of them does. For those over 65, 14 percent of men and three percent of women were found to be binge drinkers. Those in the 50 to 64 age range were binge drinkers 23 percent of the time for men and 9 percent of the time for women.
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