Acute intoxication, such as binge drinking and alcoholism, is known to be a potent risk factor for suicide. Binge drinking is also associated with an
increased risk of unplanned and unprotected sex,
unplanned pregnancies, and an increased risk of HIV infection. 10% of women and 19% of men have reported being assaulted as a result of alcohol. Males who drink more than 35 units of alcohol per week report being physically hurt as a result of alcohol, and 15% report physically hurting others as a result of their drinking. Almost 16% of binge drinkers report being taken advantage of sexually, and 8% report taking advantage of another person sexually as a result of alcohol within a one-year period. Heavy drinkers cause approximately 183,000 rapes and sexual assaults, 197,000 robberies, 661,000 aggravated assaults, and 1.7 million simple assaults each year. Binge drinking has been associated with a higher probability of divorce, spousal abuse, and poor job performance. Binge drinking can cause adverse effects on the body including effects on blood
homeostasis and its
circadian variation,
cardiac rhythm,
ischaemic heart disease,
blood pressure,
white blood cell activity, female
reproductive hormone levels as well as adverse effects on the fetus. There is also evidence from animal studies that binge drinking causes brain damage. Binge drinking has been associated with lower abdominal pain in women.
Ketoacidosis can occur in individuals who chronically abuse alcohol and have a recent history of binge drinking. Alcohol affects brain development quite significantly especially during adolescence when the brain is still developing. The main lobes that are involved in decision making and complex thought processes are undergoing their final development phase during adolescence and binge drinking can negatively stunt the growth of these frontal lobes.
Adolescence and young adulthood s,
alcopop, and
borg (pictured), that often makes young people binge drink. The high levels of binge drinking among young people and the adverse consequences that include increased risk of alcoholism as an adult and liver disease make binge drinking a major public health issue. Recent research has found that young college binge drinkers who drink four or more drinks on more than three occasions in the past two weeks are statistically 19 times more likely to develop alcoholism than non-binge drinkers, though the direction of causality remains unclear. This is particularly interesting, as drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk remains a major health and social problem on college campuses across the United States. Heavy and regular binge drinking during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of alcoholism. Approximately 40% of alcoholics report heavy drinking during adolescence. Repeated episodes of excessive drinking, especially at an early age, are thought to cause a profound increase in the risk of developing an alcohol-related disorder (ICD-10, harmful use/dependence syndrome). Heavy drinking is also closely associated with depression. Those with severe depression have higher rates of alcohol abuse than those with low depression. College students who are depressed are more susceptible to use alcohol than college students who are not depressed. In a study conducted at Harvard University, it was found that about 32% of students surveyed were diagnosable for alcohol abuse and about 6% were diagnosed as alcohol dependent. Binge drinking is also becoming an increasing problem in Australian adolescents, the Australian School Students Alcohol and Drug survey conducted by the National Cancer Council discovered that around 33% of students between years 7 and 11 consumed alcohol in the week leading up to the survey, they also found that 10% of the students participated in binge drinking at a consumption level which is considered dangerous to adults. When the survey results were separated into age groups, the findings were that 13% of 15-year-olds and 22% of 17-year-olds had alcohol consumption levels above the daily maximum suggested to adults, and that 20% of 17-year-olds had a consumption level of alcohol considered risky to adults. Other risk factors that influence the development of
alcohol abuse or alcoholism include social and genetic factors. Several researchers have found that starting to drink before the age of 15 is associated with a fourfold increased risk for developing alcoholism compared to people who delay drinking until age 20 or later. It has been estimated by some that if the age at which people started drinking could be delayed to age 20, there would be a 50% reduction in the number of cases of alcohol use disorder. The main cause of death among adolescents as a result of binge drinking is road traffic accidents; a third of all fatal road traffic accidents among 15- to 20-year-olds are associated with drinking alcohol. Cyclists and pedestrians are likely to have less spatial awareness and concentration while travelling after binge drinking and, also, it is more common that adolescents who binge-drink drive drunk or are the passenger of a drunk driver. It has been found that 50% of all head injuries in adolescents in the US are associated with alcohol consumption. Violence and suicide combine to become the third-most-common cause of death associated with binge drinking among adolescents. The suicide risk in adolescents is more than four times higher among binge drinkers than non-binge drinking adolescents. However, this research is primarily cross-sectional and done with fairly small sample sizes, making causality less certain. Several studies have been conducted to discover if there is a link between binge drinking in adolescent years and becoming a chronic alcohol consumer when they transition into adulthood. A particular study conducted by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that harmful drinking during adolescent years was significantly associated with the continuation of dangerous levels of alcohol consumption into adulthood. Binge drinking is a way for young adolescents to rely on alcohol as a way to cope with certain stress or depression. In college, many students will join Greek organizations that revolve heavily around social drinking. For new members, especially in fraternities, binge drinking is heavily encouraged, and underage drinking is commonplace. Over the past few decades, many schools have cracked down on Greek events with strict policies and active monitoring. However, the festivities did not stop, and many members were not only affected during their time in college but also later in life. Studies have shown that both male and female students who were associated with Greek organizations were more likely to develop Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in comparison to their non-Greek counterparts. A 2023
systematic review highlights the non-addictive use of alcohol for managing developmental issues, personality traits, and psychiatric symptoms, emphasizing the need for informed, harm-controlled approaches to alcohol consumption within a personalized health policy framework.
Cardiovascular system A recent study conducted on an American College tested to discover if excessive binge drinking would affect the cardiovascular system. From the results they received, they found alterations in the binge drinkers' macrocirculation and microcirculation functions, which may be a sign of a risk in cardiovascular disease. The study suggests that binge drinkers with a history of strong binge drinking should be screened regularly.
Central nervous system Heavy binge drinkers tend to have delayed auditory and
verbal memory and deficits in executive planning function and episodic memory, which are similar to deficits seen in
Korsakoff's syndrome. Impairments in spatial working memory and pattern recognition tasks have also been found in heavy binge drinkers. Impulse control is also impaired in binge drinkers, especially female binge drinkers. Additionally, immediate and delayed recall of verbal and visual information is impaired; conversely, semantic organizational ability is better in binge drinkers compared to non-binge drinkers. Studies in adolescents have shown that regular binge drinking may cause long-lasting cognitive impairments, though the threshold needed to produce significant effects remains unclear. Cognitive impairment in adults is also unclear, as one study found no association between binge drinking and cognitive impairment. While several rat studies indicate that alcohol is more toxic during adolescence than adulthood, some researchers believe that it remains unclear whether this is also the case in humans. Though heavy binge drinking adolescent humans show impaired brain activity during memory tests and underdeveloped brain structures compared to adolescents who did not binge-drink, they argue that these findings are similar to adult alcoholics who did not abuse alcohol during adolescence. Extrapolation from animal studies to humans is notoriously difficult, and a review by the group
Choose Responsibility concluded that alcohol's long-term damage to cognitive processes was the same regardless of whether heavy drinking commenced during adolescence or later. In a 2005 study in the US, approximately one in five non-pregnant women binge-drank and one in 25 pregnant women binge-drank. Binge drinking during pregnancy is associated with
fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol-related birth defects as well as alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders. The affected children after birth may have an
intellectual impairment and problems with learning, memory, attention, problem solving and problems with mental health and social interactions. Deformities in facial features, skeletal and body organs, as well as a smaller head circumference, are also sometimes present in these children. Studies in sheep indicate that fetal neurotoxicity induced by alcohol may be due to
acidaemia and
hypercapnia. Binge drinking three or more times during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of
stillbirth.
Sudden death Binge drinking is also associated with
strokes and sudden death. Binge drinking increases the risk of stroke by 10 times. In countries where binge drinking is commonplace, rates of sudden death on the weekend in young adults and middle aged people increase significantly. The withdrawal phase after an episode of binge drinking is particularly associated with
ischaemic stroke as well as
subarachnoid haemorrhage and
intracerebral haemorrhage in younger men. In individuals with an underlying cardiac disorder, a binge on alcohol increases the risk of silent
myocardial ischaemia as well as
angina. Binge drinking has negative effects on metabolism, lipid profile, blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, blood pressure and vascular tone and is associated with
embolic stroke and acute
myocardial infarction. Due to these risks, experts believe that it is extremely important to warn people of the risks of binge drinking. Binge-drinking by people otherwise considered to be light drinkers is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular problems and
mortality. Binge drinking increases cardiovascular toxicity due to its adverse effects on the electrical conduction system of the heart and the process of
atherothrombosis. Excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for an average of 80,000 deaths in the U.S. each year1 and $223.5 billion in economic costs in 2006.2 More than half of these deaths and three-quarters of the economic costs are due to binge drinking1 and 2 (≥4 drinks for women; ≥5 drinks for men, per occasion).
Urinary system The
bladder may rupture if overfilled and not emptied. This can occur in the case of binge drinkers having consumed very large quantities, but are not aware, due to stupor, of the need to urinate. This condition is very rare in women, but it does occur. Symptoms include localized pain and
uraemia (poisoning due to reabsorbed waste). The recovery rate is high, with most fatalities due to
septic blood poisoning. A person is more likely to urinate while passed out before the bladder ruptures, as alcohol relaxes the muscles that normally control their bladder.
Acute hazards The most common risk of consuming massive quantities of alcohol in a short period is a dangerously high blood alcohol level. The result is called
alcohol poisoning (overdose), which can be fatal. Choking on (or inhalation of) vomit is also a potential cause of death, as are injuries from falls, fights, motor vehicle and bicycle accidents. Nine percent of college students who binge drink drive after binge drinking. Another common risk is a
blackout (alcohol-related amnesia), which can cause shame, guilt, embarrassment, harm to personal relationships, injury or death, and is also associated with the loss of personal belongings. ==Pathophysiology==