Over 30% of the Americans Are Alcoholics!

Drinking is chic, drinking is sexy. You get rid of inhibitions, and as America is a nation without inhibitions, over 30 % of Americans suffer from alcohol abuse, as a new research found: 17.8% of them have alcohol abuse problems, and 12.5 % are alcohol-dependent.

"At some time in a person's life, 30 % of the population in the United States will develop alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse," said lead researcher Bridget F. Grant, chief of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biometry at the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

"The hallmarks of alcohol abuse are interpersonal problems, financial problems and problems in daily living due to excessive drinking. Alcohol dependence is more serious. That's where a person has a compulsion to drink as well as impaired control," she explained.

The research detected an 8-10 years delay in treatment for alcohol problems after the issue has appeared. "That 10 years can be devastating. In addition, there is a big treatment gap. Only 24.1 % of people who had alcohol dependence are ever treated. There are many new medications and behavioral treatments. But most people, including physicians, don't realize the new state-of-the-art treatment. Basically, we need a national campaign to educate physicians and lay people that there are treatments out there, and they are effective." said Grant.

The research team gathered data from a pool of 43,093 U.S. adults, in interviews done between 2001 and 2002. The subjects were questioned about symptoms of alcohol abuse and dependence and diagnosed for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorder and other psychiatric issues. One year before the interview, 8.5 % of adults had an alcohol use condition: 4.7 % with alcohol abuse and 3.8 % with alcohol-dependence.

"Alcohol dependence was significantly more prevalent among men, whites, Native Americans, younger and unmarried adults and those with lower incomes," wrote the authors. "Asians, Hispanics and blacks have a lower prevalence than whites. Alcohol abuse is greatest among those in the 30- to 60-year-old age range." said Grant.

The researchers discovered that alcohol abuse started on average at the age of 22.5, and dependence at an average age of 21.9 years old, while the average age for the first treatment for dependence was 29.8 years.