Highlights:

• Overall, women who have and have not served report similar rates of excessive drinking (13.1% vs. 13.4%).
• Overall excessive drinking rates for both groups have not changed from 2012-2013 to 2014-2015.
• Rates of excessive drinking are generally similar by race/ethnicity. However, among Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women, those who have served report excessive drinking rates nearly twice that of women who have not served (22.2% vs. 11.3%).
• Rates of excessive drinking are similar by age for women who have and have not served.

Excessive alcohol is the fourth leading preventable cause of death among American adult women, killing over 26,000 each year. In addition, over 5 million women in the U.S. are currently living with an alcohol use disorder. Excessive drinking has more serious long-term health implications for women than men, including greater risk for liver disease, brain damage and alcohol-related cancers at lower levels of consumption.[1][2][3] Previous research has shown women veterans who binge drink at least monthly are more likely to have cirrhosis, hepatitis, frequent injuries and use tobacco or drugs.[4] Mortality risk from multiple causes, including suicide, may also be higher among women veterans who use alcohol in excess of healthy limits.[5][6]

[1] S. Loft et al. "Increased Susceptibility to Liver Disease in Relation to Alcohol Consumption in Women." Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 22, no. 10 (1987): 1251-56.
[2] Karl Mann et al. "Do Women Develop Alcoholic Brain Damage More Readily Than Men?" Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 16, no. 6 (1992): 1052-56.
[3] Stephanie A. Smith-Warner et al. "Alcohol and Breast Cancer in Women: A Pooled Analysis of Cohort Studies." Journal of the American Medical Association 279, no. 7 (1998): 535-40.
[4] Katharine A. Bradley et al. "Binge Drinking among Female Veterans Affairs Patients: Prevalence and Associated Risks." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 15, no. 4 (2001): 297.
[5] Katherine J. Hoggatt et al. "Alcohol and Drug Misuse, Abuse, and Dependence in Women Veterans." Epidemiologic Reviews 37, no. 1 (2015): 23-37.
[6] Tracy L. Simpson et al. "Alcohol Consumption Levels and All-Cause Mortality among Women Veterans and Non-Veterans Enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative." The Gerontologist 56, no. S1 (2016): S138-S49.