Excessive intake of alcohol is correlated with more than 27,000 deaths among women and girls each year, a data procured by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.  It has been estimated that approximately half of adult women report drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. About 18% of women of child-bearing age, 18–44 years tend to binge drink and it is more frequent in females (15%) than males (13%). As per data collected in 2019, 4% of women overall and 8% of women aged 18 to 25 years had an alcohol use disorder.

 Although excessive alcohol use has significant health consequences to every individual, women are likely to be more affected. It has been observed that men drink more frequently and consume alcohol in larger amounts, but, biological differences in body structure and chemistry of the women causes higher absorption of alcohol which require longer period of metabolization. After drinking the same amount of alcohol, women tend to have higher blood alcohol levels than men, and the immediate effects of alcohol usually occur more quickly and last longer in women than men. These differences in turn, make women more prone to the long-term negative health effects of alcohol in contrast to men.

Evidences also suggest that women in comparison to men have higher risk of cirrhosis and other alcohol-related liver diseases.  Furthermore, development of alcohol-related cognitive decline and shrinkage of the brain is rapid in women than men. There is increased risk of cardiovascular disorders in women who drink excessively at lower levels of consumption and over fewer years of drinking. Besides, cardiovascular risks, alcohol consumption augments the risk of mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon and breast cancer, even at low levels of consumption. In pregnant women, alcohol use increases the risk of having a baby with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and it is also associated with the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery and sudden infant death syndrome.

Source: Excessive Alcohol Use is a Risk to Womens Health. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm.  Accessed on: 19-01-2021.