binge drinking
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"K. D." fornokds...@hotmail.com
There is an interesting small article on the front page of the D section in today's Tennessean: "A new study finds that binge drinking, defined as drinking five or more alcoholic drinks within a few hours, is most prevalent in the upper Midwest and lowest in the South. ... San Antonio, Texas, [ALERT: JOSEPH] had the highest prevalence of binge drinking, with 23.9% of drinkers reporting binge drinking in the past month. Chattanooga had the lowest rate, 4.1%, according to the study by researchers at the CDC ... Nashville's rate was 10.4%, below the national median of 14.5%.
I'm not much of a drinker so my perspective may be skewed. Still, I'm surprised to discover that 14.5% of people across the U.S. have engaged in binge drinking within the past month! Of course, the regional differences could be at least partly due to the fact that southerners may be less apt to *admit* to binge drinking than are folks in other regions -- i.e., the upper Midwest.
-KD
Joseph Crowe jcr...@io.com
Hi K.D., Interesting statistic. The CDC researchers have run pretty loose with facts in the past so it might make sense to take this with a railcar load of salt. In any case, I'd like to know what constitutes five drinks within a few hours time....five 3.2 beers? five 4.7 beers? 7.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor? Five gl***es of wine? Five margaritas? Five shots of Swedish aquavit? (the later being totally deadly). I know that you are a stickler for statistical validity so look at the premises this is based on. I find, more and more recently, that "studies" I see appearing in any number of "respectable" journals have design flaws that even the most rudimentary knowledge of statistics could eviscerate in five minutes.
There's a big hint on validity of the stastics collected....if this results from a survey, you can bet it's flawed as hell....
--
Joseph Crowe
"K. D." fornokds...@hotmail.com
Of course. While I discount and/or am suspicious of many of the "conclusions" based on surveys (especially surveys about sexual habits --
for obvious reasons), still, interesting *stuff* can be gleaned. Because, by definition, the results of a survey are the results of what people *report.* Which are probably correlated with many things, perhaps even occasionally with the actual truth.
I guess what surprises me most is that so many folks would admit to having engaged in *binge* drinking within the past month. The reasons for the regional differences are open to speculation.
-KD
"Olin Murrell" oli...@comcast.net
What kind of surprises me is the definition of binge drinking. I'm not much of a drinker either, though there was a time when I'd down at least most of my share, but five drinks over "several hours" in a club does not really seem like binge drinking to me.
I'd think of binge drinking as if it were an old boss who would go hide out in a local motel and stay drunk on his butt for as much as a WEEK at a time.
Seems to me their definition is a tad tight.
SCR sc...@nospam.org
K. D. said...
The way I read it, there is a difference between 14.5% of the group 'people' and the group 'drinkers'.
"jakdedert" jded...@bellsouth.net
I expect that the word 'binge' never appeared on the actual survey form (or was never mentioned by the surveyor if it was an oral survey). Most likely they just stated the parameter: five+ drinks in a given(?) period. Does seem pretty loosely stated to me, though.
jak
Jeff Martin martin5...@bellsouth.net
That's what I thought. 5 drinks over "several" hours is not a lot, considering your body can process about a drink an hour and maintain sobriety. I love poor man's marguaritas (shot of tequila, salt, lime wedge) and if I took a shot every 36 minutes, that would be considered binge drinking? I wouldn't be ready to drive anywhere, but I wouldn't be real drunk. Now, maintain that average over 5 or 6 hours, I'd probably be pretty well snockered.
"Olin Murrell" oli...@comcast.net
That's precisely my point. five drinks in two or three hours will definitely put one in the unfit to drive category, but the binge drinkers I've known would put a knee-walking "buzz" on and maintain it, not for five or six hours, but five or six DAYS. And for a good part of their little binge, they'll be actually p***ed out cold.
There's one school of thought that holds alcholism is based at least as much on the pattern as the amount, i.e. one beer a day at 4:37 PM and you ain't worth diddly unless you get it, might qualify as a problem. I had one friend who was a totally committed alcholic for most of the thirty years I've known him, but I almost never saw him drunk. He drank all day, but just enough to maintain a very light buzz, right up until the last two or three years before he finally took the cure. Those years, even HE would eventually notice he was out of control.
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