Alcohol use disorders in the United States exact a tremendous human toll. For example,
18 million Americans (more than 7%) suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence, one in
four children younger than 18 years is exposed to family alcohol problems, and an
estimated 100,000 deaths annually are associated with alcohol-related causes. In addition
to the individual and family toll of alcohol use disorders, there is a significant
economic cost to our nation—an estimated $185 billion annually, a large portion of
which can be attributed to health care costs from medical problems directly or indirectly
ascribed to alcohol use. In fact, estimates of the number of hospital admissions in
the United States that are alcohol related range from 20% to 40%. Not only are alcohol
use disorders a major burden on American society, but they are equally so for other
developed nations: alcohol use disorders are ranked second only to unipolar depressive
disorders in World Health Organization statistics on disease burden in developed countries.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Genetics and Mental Disorders. Guilford Press, New York1999
- Comorbidity between DSM-IV alcohol use disorders and major depression.Drug Alcohol Depend. 1995; 39: 179-206
- Source and Accuracy Statement. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland2003
- Depression and alcoholism.in: Maser J. Cloninger C. Cormorbidity of Mood and Anxiety Disorders. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC1990
- Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1994; 51: 8-19
- Lifetime co-morbidities between social phobia and mood disorders in the US National Comorbidity Survey.Psychol Med. 1999; 29: 555-567
- Depressed preschoolers with bipolar family history.J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2003; 13: 187-197
- Genome-wide search for genes affecting the risk for alcohol dependence.Am J Med Genet. 1998; 81: 207-215
- The comorbidity of depression and substance use disorders.Clin Psychol Rev. 2000; 20: 173-189
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 19, 2004
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
