alcoholismIf women do not always drink the same reasons as men, they are exposed to greater risk of dependency and complications. This vulnerability requires Does special vigilance? Focus on a problem ignored.

While alcoholism has long kept the image of a predominantly male disease. It is true that men are more likely to abuse alcohol and they also externalize more easily, especially in pipe band. However, we realize now that women are not only far from being spared by alcoholism, but they are particularly susceptible to alcohol toxicity.
A problem which also affects women

In a study conducted at the request of the Directorate General of Health (DGS), 1 300 GPs Breton gathered information from their patients. The results confirm the behavior more sober women. One in four patients reported drinking alcohol every day. Of these, nearly four times more men than women (41% against 12%). Among drinkers, half men and three-quarters of women say they do not drink more than one or two drinks per day.

But a screening questionnaire indicates that 26% of men and 6% of women may have problems with alcohol. These percentages are higher than those recorded in France in the final barometer health (13% men and 4% women). Moreover, taking into account the standards adopted by the National Institute of Prevention and Health Education (INPES) to define a threshold of hazardous drinking (more than two drinks per day for women and more three drinks for men), the proportions are reversed, as were 20% women and 16% of men who are heavy drinkers.

Emotional reasons

The reasons that lead to alcohol abuse are very different by gender. “Women are drinking more often to fill an emotional vacuum, overcome personal difficulties, said Dr. Isabelle Sokolow, alcohologist doctor at Hospital of Saint-Cloud. They can say they drink to forget. They are less concerned by the Social training often prompts people to eat excessively.

The doctors observed signs of physical dependence in 6% of men and 1.7% of women. This dependency affects all in younger women: it is maximum between 35 and 44 years (6.4%), then it decreases to less than 3% at age 55. In men, it increases to 55-65 years to reach 17% before stabilizing at 11% 3.