Alcohol in adolescence may "cooked" repeated in adulthood

The Teenage alcohol consumption increases the risk of "cooked" repeated in adulthood, according to an article published in the journal "News Alcohol".

The "binge drinking" of Anglo-Saxon has no literal translation into French. Young people speak of "screwing" their elders "fired" and psychiatrists "compulsive consumption." Anyway, it is a mode of consumption of alcoholic beverages has grown significantly over the last 20 years in the UK, consisting of drinking large amounts of alcohol (more than 10 glasses on one occasion for a man, more than 7 for women) on spaces of time limited, but more or less systematic weekend.

"These episodes of acute alcohol can have serious social consequences (violence, accidents ...) and physical (in particular, the risk of acute alcoholic hepatitis can lead to liver failure and coma, or death)," can we read in the article that refers to a published in "Addiction" review epidemiological study.

This prospective study analyzed the patterns of consumption of alcohol by individuals born during the same week of March 1958 in the UK, then followed by their 16th birthday until the age of 42.

Of a total of 17,000 births, 11,419 individuals responded to at least one questionnaire about their drinking habits at ages 16, 23, 33 and 42 years and 8,520 people have provided comprehensive data to monitor their alcohol consumption over the years.

The prevalence (total number of cases per year) of the "cooked" was particularly important among men, 37%, 28% and 31%, respectively, at ages 23, 33 and 42 years. Although less important for women, this type of consumption was far from negligible, with rates of 18, 13 and 14%.

The "binge drinkers" at the age of 23 years were at increased risk of such consumers remain at the age of 42 years (risk multiplied by 2.10 for men and 1.56 for women).

For boys, the fact consume more than 7 drinks per week from the age of 16 drinks was predictive of the risk of "cooked" in adulthood. For women, the risk at 42 years was also higher for those who drank no other reason than 2 drinks per week at the age of 16 years compared to those never drinking or on rare occasions and in very small quantities.

The main lesson of this study is the high prevalence of excess alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom. France seems more reasonable in this area, but keep in mind that social and health consequences of acute intoxication are particularly worrying.