FASlink Fetal Alcohol Disorders Society

Frequency of drinking

Frequency of drinking 5 or more drinks on one occasion in the last 12 months, by age group and sex, household population aged 12 and over who are current drinkers, Canada, 2000/01

Frequency of
heavy drinking

Total, population reporting drinking

Never 5 or more drinks on one occasion

5 or more drinks on one occasion, less than twelve times a year

5 or more drinks on one occasion, twelve or more times a year

Drinking frequency, not stated

Number

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

2000/2001

                 

Total, 12 years and over

19,832,244

11,028,396

55.6

4,618,818

23.3

3,979,661

20.1

205,369

1.0

Males

10,254,854

4,624,858

45.1

2,606,918

25.4

2,902,319

28.3

120,759

1.2

Females

9,577,389

6,403,537

66.9

2,011,900

21.0

1,077,342

11.2

84,610

0.9

                   

12-19 years

1,732,962

810,443

46.8

456,590

26.3

435,482

25.1

30,448

1.8

Males

896,639

385,784

43.0

224,658

25.1

269,607

30.1

16,590

1.9

Females

836,324

424,658

50.8

231,932

27.7

165,875

19.8

13,858

1.7

                   

12-14 years

263,807

213,023

80.7

33,675

12.8

12,544

4.8

4,564E

1.7E

Males

142,545

118,252

83.0

16,929

11.9

4,347E

3.0E

F

F

Females

121,262

94,772

78.2

16,747

13.8

8,197E

6.8E

F

F

                   

15-19 years

1,469,155

597,419

40.7

422,915

28.8

422,937

28.8

25,884

1.8

Males

754,094

267,533

35.5

207,729

27.5

265,260

35.2

13,572

1.8

Females

715,062

329,886

46.1

215,186

30.1

157,678

22.1

12,312E

1.7E

                   

20-34 years

5,419,565

2,041,432

37.7

1,717,520

31.7

1,587,004

29.3

73,609

1.4

Males

2,854,263

805,019

28.2

875,561

30.7

1,127,698

39.5

45,986

1.6

Females

2,565,302

1,236,413

48.2

841,959

32.8

459,307

17.9

27,623

1.1

                   

20-24 years

1,854,368

561,994

30.3

569,025

30.7

687,829

37.1

35,519E

1.9E

Males

972,394

223,558

23.0

265,838

27.3

458,213

47.1

24,785E

2.5E

Females

881,973

338,436

38.4

303,187

34.4

229,616

26.0

10,734E

1.2E

                   

25-34 years

3,565,197

1,479,437

41.5

1,148,495

32.2

899,175

25.2

38,090

1.1

Males

1,881,869

581,461

30.9

609,723

32.4

669,484

35.6

21,201E

1.1E

Females

1,683,328

897,976

53.3

538,772

32.0

229,691

13.6

16,889E

1.0E

                   

35-44 years

4,470,852

2,332,263

52.2

1,188,862

26.6

923,006

20.6

26,721

0.6

Males

2,306,760

951,405

41.2

676,264

29.3

663,943

28.8

15,148

0.7

Females

2,164,092

1,380,858

63.8

512,597

23.7

259,063

12.0

11,574

0.5

                   

45-64 years

5,824,995

3,786,967

65.0

1,078,972

18.5

908,842

15.6

50,214

0.9

Males

3,025,253

1,564,736

51.7

698,182

23.1

732,817

24.2

29,517

1.0

Females

2,799,743

2,222,230

79.4

380,790

13.6

176,026

6.3

20,697

0.7

                   

45-54 years

3,625,833

2,207,017

60.9

759,438

20.9

626,189

17.3

33,189

0.9

Males

1,867,862

874,494

46.8

476,412

25.5

496,321

26.6

20,636

1.1

Females

1,757,972

1,332,523

75.8

283,026

16.1

129,869

7.4

12,554E

0.7E

                   

55-64 years

2,199,162

1,579,950

71.8

319,534

14.5

282,653

12.9

17,025

0.8

Males

1,157,391

690,243

59.6

221,770

19.2

236,496

20.4

8,882

0.8

Females

1,041,771

889,707

85.4

97,764

9.4

46,157

4.4

8,143E

0.8E

                   

65 years and over

2,383,869

2,057,292

86.3

176,875

7.4

125,326

5.3

24,376

1.0

Males

1,171,939

917,913

78.3

132,253

11.3

108,255

9.2

13,518E

1.2E

Females

1,211,929

1,139,379

94.0

44,621

3.7

17,071

1.4

10,858

0.9

                   

65-74 years

1,518,045

1,257,976

82.9

139,351

9.2

105,799

7.0

14,920E

1.0E

Males

768,909

564,317

73.4

103,020

13.4

91,837

11.9

9,735E

1.3E

Females

749,137

693,659

92.6

36,331

4.8

13,962

1.9

5,185E

0.7E

                   

75 years and over

865,823

799,316

92.3

37,524

4.3

19,527

2.3

9,456

1.1

Males

403,031

353,596

87.7

29,233

7.3

16,418

4.1

3,783E

0.9E

Females

462,792

445,720

96.3

8,290E

1.8E

3,109E

0.7E

5,674E

1.2E

                   

1.

Data source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey, 2000/01

2.

Population aged 12 and over who are current drinkers and who reported drinking 5 or more drinks on at least one occasion in the past 12 months.

3.

Bootstrapping techniques were used to produce the coefficient of variation (CV) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

4.

Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) from 16.6% to 33.3% are identified by an (E) and should be interpreted with caution.

5.

Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) greater than 33.3% were suppressed (F) due to extreme sampling variability.

6.

Health regions are defined by provincial governments as the areas of responsibility for regional health boards (i.e., legislated) or as regions of interest to health care authorities.

7.

A "peer group" is a grouping of health regions that have similar social and economic characteristics.

8.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, health regions are generally referred to as Health and Community Services (HCS) regions.

9.

In Prince Edward Island, the two health regions divide the province into urban and rural components.

10.

Prince Edward Island has defined these health regions for statistical purposes only; they bear no resemblance to the boundaries of the five actual administrative health regions.

11.

In Nova Scotia, health regions are known as "health zones" and relate to the province's administrative health region boundaries.

12.

In Ontario, Public Health Units (PHU) administer health promotion and disease prevention programs, and District Health Councils (DHC) are advisory, health planning organizations.

13.

Because of the small population of Churchill, Manitoba (population: 1,110 in 1996), the Canadian Community Health Survey only collects data for the aggregation of Burntwood/Churchill (regions 4680, 4690).

14.

In Saskatchewan, "service areas" (SA) have been created from groupings of the 33 health districts.

15.

In Alberta, health regions are referred to as Health Authorities (HA) or Regional Health Authorities (RHA).

16.

The following symbols are used in Statistics Canada publications: (..) for figures not available and (...) for figures not appropriate or not applicable.

17.

CANSIM table number 01050031.

Source: Statistics Canada's Internet Site

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-221-XIE/00502/tables/html/2155.htm

Extracted May 28, 2002.

http://www.statcan.ca


In the United States

Department of Health and Human Services - National Institutes of Health
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Newsletter/winter2004/Newsletter_Number3.htm#council


NIAAA Council Approves Definition of Binge Drinking
On February 5, 2004, the NIAAA National Advisory Council approved the following definition/statement:

A "binge" is a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 gram percent or above. For the typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks (female), in about 2 hours. Binge drinking is clearly dangerous for the drinker and for society.

  • In the above definition, a "drink" refers to half an ounce of alcohol (e.g., one 12–oz. beer, one 5–oz. glass of wine, or one1.5–oz. shot of distilled spirits).

  • Binge drinking is distinct from "risky" drinking (reaching a peak BAC between .05 gram percent and .08 gram percent) and a "bender" (2 or more days of sustained heavy drinking).

  • For some individuals (e.g., older people or people taking other drugs or certain medications), the number of drinks needed to reach a binge–level BAC is lower than for the "typical adult."

  • People with risk factors for the development of alcoholism have increased risk with any level of alcohol consumption, even that below a "risky" level.

  • For pregnant women, any drinking presents risk to the fetus.

  • Drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal.

The Council's decision was based on a recommendation from a task force chaired by NIAAA Associate Director Dr. Mark Goldman. "The task force was charged with developing a recommended definition of binge drinking for use in the field's future research efforts," said Dr. Lorraine Gunzerath, acting chief, Strategic Research Planning Branch in NIAAA's Office of Scientific Affairs, who spearheaded the task force report. Task force members included Drs. Raul Caetano, Sandra Brown, Kenneth Hoffman, George Koob, Sean O'Connor, and Kenneth Sher. The group held a workshop November 4–5, 2003, to determine the factors that define heavy episodic drinking or distinguish it from other patterns of alcohol use and abuse, including cut–off points, amounts, or timeframes; predictive factors; trajectories; and outcomes. Over the 2–day workshop, the task force heard invited presentations in the areas of neurobiology, physiology, psychology, sociocultural contexts, and measurement issues. After reviewing the presented material, the members reconvened on February 4, 2004, to produce a consensus definition, and submitted their recommendation to the full Council for approval.