Alcohol Addiction in Women: Risk Factors & Health Risks

A woman is more likely to drink if she has a family member with an alcohol addiction, a partner who drinks heavily, a history of depression or a history of childhood abuse, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Significance

• It is estimated that 5.3 million American women drink heavily and in a way that threatens their life, according to the NIAAA.

Warning

• Drinking alcohol over the long term is more likely to damage a woman's health than a man's. Women are at greater risk than men for developing alcohol-related problems, because on average, their bodies are smaller and have less water available to dilute the effects of alcohol in the body.

Quantity

• A woman who drinks four or more alcoholic beverages per day, or eight or more drinks per week, increases her risk of becoming alcohol dependent, according to the NIAAA.

Characteristics

• Common characteristics of an alcohol addiction, or alcoholism, include a craving for alcohol, the inability to stop drinking, having a high tolerance for alcohol and a physical dependence that may include withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, nausea and sweating.

Health Effects

• Women alcoholics may develop alcoholic hepatitis (liver inflammation), cirrhosis, heart disease, brain disease, including loss of mental function and reduced brain size, and cancer of the digestive track, head, neck and breast.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

• Pregnant women who are addicted to alcohol may have a baby born with birth defects called fetal alcohol syndrome. Babies with fetal alcohol syndrome may suffer brain damage, low birth weight, distinctive changes in their facial features, and lifelong learning, memory and attention difficulties.