Women ‘match men’ at drinking booze

Women are “catching up with men” in terms of alcohol consumption and its associated harms, with the trend “most evident” among young adults, according to new research.

An analysis of available international evidence spanning over a century has revealed that the gap between female and male drinkers is narrowing – a phenomenon called ‘sex convergence’.

Historically, the report states, as well as being “far more likely” to drink alcohol than women, men also consume it in quantities that damage their health. Some figures suggest up to a 12-fold difference between the sexes in the past.

Researchers pooled data from 68 international studies out of a total of 314 published between 1980 and 2014. Every study featured explicit regional or national comparisons of male and female drinking patterns across at least two time periods.

As the data was data collected between 1948 and 2014, the studies represented people born as far back as 1891 up to the year 2000, and included a total sample size of more than four million.

The researchers used 11 key indicators of alcohol use and associated harms for their analysis, which were grouped into three broad categories: any use, which included quantities and frequency; problematic use, which included binge/heavy drinking; and the prevalence of associated harms. The pooled data showed that the gap between the sexes consistently narrowed across all three categories.

Births were grouped into timeframes spanning five years, starting in 1891 and ending in 2000, with the exception of the first (1891-1910) and the last (1991-2000).

Men born between 1891 and 1910 were twice as likely to drink alcohol than women – but this had almost equalled among those born between 1991 and 2000.

Taking account of potential mathematical bias in the calculations, the gender gap fell by 3.2% for each successive five year period of births; steepest among those born from 1966 onwards.

Though the calculation was not designed to address whether alcohol use is falling among men or rising among women, among the 42 studies that reported evidence for sex convergence, “most indicated that this was driven by greater use of alcohol among women”.

Some of the studies indicated that women born after 1981 may actually be drinking more than their male peers.

Researchers said the results “have implications for the framing and targeting of alcohol use prevention and intervention programmes”.

“Alcohol use and alcohol use disorders have historically been viewed as a male phenomenon”, they added. “The present study calls this assumption into question and suggests that young women in particular should be the target of concerted efforts to reduce the impact of substance use and related harms.”

The research was published in the online journal, BMJ Open.