Binge drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as consuming four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men on a single occasion.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “binge drinking?" A group of rowdy college students, perhaps.

True, binge drinking is most common among young adults ages 18-34, but more than 38 million U.S. adults are classified as binge drinkers as well, according to a report released Jan. 10 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Binge drinking is defined by the CDC as consuming four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men on a single occasion.

Aside from the obvious health and social risks — car crashes, unintentional injuries, violence, liver disease, certain cancers, heart disease, sexually transmitted diseases and both unintended and alcohol–exposed pregnancies— binge drinking carries a legacy cost as well: It sets a bad example for our youth, says Pamela Hyde, who heads the government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“We need to reduce binge drinking by adults to prevent the immediate and long–term effects it has on the health of adults and youth,” Hyde said in a recent statement.

According to the CDC:

• Binge drinking is most common among those with household incomes of $75,000 or more.

• Binge drinkers with household incomes of less than $25,000 tend to drink more — an average of eight to nine drinks per occasion.

• Bing drinking causes more than 80,000 deaths in the United States each year.

• Bing drinking was responsible for more than $223.5 billion in economic costs in 2006.

• Adult binge drinking is most common in the Midwest, New England, the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii.

• Binge drinkers consume more drinks in the southern part of the Mountain states (Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah), the Midwest and some states where binge drinking is less common — including Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

For more information about binge drinking and how to prevent it, visit the CDC’s Alcohol and Public Health website: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/index.htm.

For teens who are coping with alcohol and other substance abuse by adults at home, First Baptist Church-West in Charlotte has developed a website — www.iknowsomebody.org — that includes a list of local resources.

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