INTRODUCTION:

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with dependence-producing properties that has been widely used in many cultures for centuries and its consumption is a causal factor for more than 200 diseaseconditions. Drinking alcohol is associated with a risk of developing health problems such as mental and behavioural disorders, including alcohol dependence, major noncommunicable diseases such as liver cirrhosis, some cancers and cardiovascular diseases, as well as injuries resulting from violence and road clashes and collisions.¹

Although men are more likely to drink alcohol and consume larger amounts but biological differences in body structure and chemistry lead most women to absorb more alcohol and take longer to metabolize it.

After drinking the same amount of alcohol, women tend to have higher blood alcohol levels than men, and the immediate effects of alcohol usually occur more quickly and last longer in women than men. These differences make women more susceptible to the long-term negative health effects of alcohol compared with men.²

Reports (2010) found that women are found to be more at risk of developing mood disorders and almost twice more likely to experience depression. The modern lifestyle of women is chock-full of stressors. Many women feel the pressure to “have it all” and maintain a successful career while also being the perfect mother and wife. Studies show a connection between higher stress in women and their changing gender role, especially in the professional realm. For some women, accumulated stress can lead to alcohol reliance as a coping mechanism and a way to escape from reality.²

METHODS:

Literaturesearches using multiple electronic databases for quantitative studies with any title pertaining to substance use among women. This includes original articles, case studies, reviews articles and reports with significant implications.

RESULTS:

a. Global prevalence of alcohol consumptionamong women: Globally, females consume less alcohol compared to men. However, recent research suggests such gaps are narrowing as the alcohol use and misuse among women are increasing. In 2016 it was reported that, 54% of males and 32% of females aged 15 years and older worldwide consumed alcohol. Alcohol caused approximately 5% of all deaths of which 3% of deaths were women’s . Although gender gaps in alcohol use seemingly are universal, the size of the gaps varies between countries and their respective cultures, from a male to female ratio for current drinking of 1:1 in New Zealand and Norway. In the United States, 68% males and 64% females drinks alcohol per year.³

According to WHO report 2016, 3 million deaths, or 5.3 percent of all global deaths (7.7% for men and 2.6 % for women), were attributable to alcohol consumption.⁴

Excessive alcohol use is associated with more than 27,000 deaths among women and girls each year.⁵

b. Prevalenceof alcohol consumptionamong women in India: According to 2016 report the male female ration of alcohol consumption in India is 12.3:1. This large variation between gender ratio suggest India’s culturally prescribed gender rolesin shaping gender-specific drinking patterns.³

In certain sections and communities, it has been found to be prevalent at the rate 24% to 48 % in females.⁶

c. Burden ofAlcohol effects on women:The World Health Organization estimates that there are about 2 billion people worldwide who consume alcohol beverages and 76.3 million with diagnosable alcohol disorders.⁷A 2019 study reported 4% of women overall and 8% of women aged 18 to 25 years had an alcohol use disorder.⁸Biological differences in body structure and chemistry leads women to absorb more alcohol and take longer time to metabolize it. After drinking the same amount of alcohol, women tend to have higher blood alcohol levels compared to men, and the immediate effects of alcohol usually occur more quickly and last longer in women than men. These differences make women more susceptible to the negative health effects of alcohol compared with men.

i. Alcohol use disorder: In 2019 it was reported that 4% of women overall and 8% of women aged 18 to 25 years had an alcohol use disorder.⁹

ii. Alcoholic liver disease: Alcoholic cirrhosis is increasingly seen in countries such as Japan and India which traditionally had a low prevalence of the disease.Studies found that women have greater susceptibility to ALD in the range of 3–8 drinks daily. There was a steep dose dependent increase in ALD risk above this threshold with increasing alcohol intake. Women have greater susceptibility to ALD at any given level of intake. The gender differences in susceptibility to liver injury may be due to pharmacokinetic reasons such as differences in ethanol absorption or alternatively differences in the response of the liver to alcohol induced injury.¹⁰

iii. Heart disease: Women who drink excessively are at increased risk for damage to the heart muscle at lower levels of consumption and over fewer years of drinking than men.

iv. Cancer: Women who consume about 1drink per day have 5-9%higher chance of developing breast cancer than women who do not drink.²

v. Foetal Alcohol syndrome:Alcohol use during pregnancy results in foetal alcohol syndrome which is a leading cause of intellectual disability in kids. The women who drink while pregnant have 35-40% chances of having a baby with defects.^5.The global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy was estimated to be 9·8% (95% CI 8·9–11·1) and the estimated prevalence of FAS in the general population was 14·6 per 10 000 people (95% CI 9·4–23·3). It is estimated that one in every 67women who consumed alcohol during pregnancy would deliver a child with FAS.¹¹

vi. Psychiatric Disorder: It is third leading psychiatric problem in the world today. Alcohol is linked to violence, disrupted family roles and impaired family communication and partly to physical and psychological illness.¹²

CONCLUSION:

Alcohol is the most commonly used substance by girls and women. Women tend to cope with emotional or relational problems by consuming alcohol.Female drinkers consume about one-third (6.7 litres) pure alcohol per year and the lifetime alcohol use among female is 78%. Evidences shows that women are more vulnerable to the acute and long-term effects of alcohol. They are at greater risk for developing liver damage, brain damage and heart disease related to their alcohol use. Therefore,to reduce the risk of harmswomen must reduce the amount of alcohol they drink.

REFERENCES:

1. NIH.Women and alcohol [Internet] 2021. cited [2021April]. Available from: Women and Alcohol | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (nih.gov)

2. American Addiction Centers.WhyAlcohol Abuse is on the Rise for Women [Internet] 2019. cited [2019 July 22]. Available from: https://americianaddictioncenters.org/blog/Why Alcohol Abuse is on the Rise for Women (americanaddictioncenters.org).

3. Aaron M. White.Gender Differences in the Epidemiology of Alcohol Use and Related Harms in the United States.2020October 29; 40(2).Available from:Gender Differences in the Epidemiology of Alcohol Use and Related Harms in the United States | Alcohol Research: Current Reviews (nih.gov)

4. WHO. Alcohol: Fact sheet. 2018. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol. Accessed December 8, 2020.

5. Erol A, Karpyak VM. Sex and gender-related differences in alcohol use and its consequences: Contemporary knowledge and future research considerationsexternal icon. Drug Alcohol Depend 2015;156:1–13.

6. Alcohol use disorder. National Health Portal India. Available from: https://www.nhp.gov.in/healthlyliving/alcohol-use-disorder.

7. Lissa Paul,Ramya K. R.. Knowledge and Attitude towards Alcoholism among Adolescents. Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research 2(4): Oct-Dec. 2012; Page 212-214

8. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tablesexternal icon. Rockville, MD: 2020.

9. Alcohol and public health.,Center for diseas and prevention. 2020October 23 Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm

10. Walsh.K, Alexander.G. Postgraduate Medical Journal: Alcholic liver disease 2000;76:280-286.895. Available from: https://pmj.bjm.com/Alcoholic liver disease | Postgraduate Medical Journal (bmj.com)

11. Popova S. Estimation of national, regional, and global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.2017 March 01. Vol 5(3)Available from:Estimation of national, regional, and global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis - The Lancet Global Health.

12. Muthuvenkatachalam Srinivasan. Psychological Distress among Spouses of Alcoholic men in Rural Uttarakhand. Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research 5(4): Oct.- Dec.2015; Page 483-486. doi: 10.5958/2349-2996.2015.00099.3

Received on 13.11.2021 Modified on 18.06.2022

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2023; 11(1):93-95.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2023.00021