US Binge Drinking: By the Numbers

Question #1: In the US, excessive alcohol use is responsible for 88,000 deaths per year. What percentage of those deaths is due to binge drinking?

Answer: A. Binge drinking accounts for half of the 88,000 excessive alcohol related deaths each year. 

Question #2: Over half of all the alcohol sold in the US is consumed while binge drinking. True or false?

Answer: A. True. More than half of the alcohol sold in the US is consumed while binge drinking. 

Question #3: In 2015, what percentage of US adults reported that they binge drank? 

Answer: C. 17.1% of US adults reported binge drinking in 2015. 

Question #4: How many total binge drinks are consumed each year?

Answer: A. 17.5 billion binge drinks are consumed in the US every year. 

Question #5: Of the 17.5 billion binge drinks consumed every year, what percentage of that is consumed by men?

Answer: B. Men consumed 80% of the 17.5 billion total binge drinks, which equals out to 14 billion binge drinks consumed. 

Question #6: How many drinks consumed per occassion is considered binge drinking for women?

Answer: C. 4 or more drinks consumed per occassion by women is considered binge drinking. For men, it is 5 or more drink consumed per occasssion. 

Question #7: Binge drinkers with less than a high school education drank more than twice as many total binge drinks annually than binge drinkers that graduated college. True or false? 

Answer: A. True. Binge drinkers with less than a high school education consumed 723.5 binge drinks versus 322.1 binge drinks consumed by binge drinkers who were college graduates. 

Question #8: The prevalence of binge drinking is higher among those aged 18-24 years and 25-34 years, but more than half of the total binge drinks were consumed by people over the age of 35. True or false? 

Answer: A. True. The prevalence of binge drinking is higher among 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds, but more than half of the total binge drinks were consumed by people over the age of 35.

Question #9: The prevalence of binge drinking in high-income (≥$75,000) households is 21.7%. What is the prevalence of binge drinking in low-income (<$25,000) households? 

Answer: D. The prevalence of binge drinking in low-income households is 14.1%. 

Question #10: The total annual number of binge drinks consumed in 2015 was in what state? 

Answer: B. California consumed the most binge drinks in 2015 at 1,744,778,272, while Wyoming consumed the lowest amount of total binge drinks at 28,123,508. 

Question #11: Which state had the highest annual number of total binge drinks consumed per binge drinker in 2015?

Answer: D. Arkansas ranked first with each binge drinker consuming 841 binge drinks. The District of Columbia ranked last with 316.9 binge drinks consumed per binge drinker. 

Question #12: Providing screening and brief intervention for excessive drinking using electronic tools is shown to reduce binge drinking by 40%. True or false?

Answer: B. False. Using electronic tools to screen and provide brief intervention reduces binge drinking by 24%.