Capstone Plenary: Alcohol use and women’s health – Narrowing gender gaps and increasing concerns

Introduction/Moderator Ivana Grakalic PhD, Program Director, Div of Neuroscience & Behavior, NIAAA.

Speaker: Aaron White PhD, Leader of the Epidemiology and Biometry Branch and Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director NIAAA.

Alcohol use and women’s health – Narrowing gender gaps and increasing concerns

In this presentation, we will place changes in alcohol use among girls and women in a historical context and explore narrowing gender gaps in alcohol use and harms across the lifespan. While alcohol use is decreasing among adolescent females, the declines are much smaller than for males and drinking alone is on the rise. Beginning in the mid-20s, alcohol consumption is increasing for women but not for men, leading to narrowing gaps in consumption in every adult age group. More alcohol use among women is resulting in more health consequences, including cases of alcohol-associated liver disease and alcohol-related deaths from all causes. Mounting evidence also suggests that the health risks of alcohol for women begin at much lower doses than once thought. We will finish by discussing the implications of these recent trends for prevention.