It wasn’t until 1993 that clinical research funded by the National Institutes of Health was required to include women as research subjects. In fact, the NIH did not even require sex as a biological variable to be considered by federally funded researchers until 2016. When women are excluded from biomedical Top 5 Advantages of Staying in a Sober Living House research, it leaves doctors and researchers with an incomplete understanding of health and disease, including alcohol addiction. The liver metabolizes alcohol as acetaldehyde, which is a toxic chemical. Alcohol scars and inflames the liver and also interferes with its ability to metabolize fats. Alcohol-Related Emergencies and Deaths in the United States Death rates among females were highest from heart disease and stroke during each period. Among both males and females, alcohol-attributable death rates increased for most cause of death categories. The average number of sex-specific alcohol-attributable deaths increased among all age groups from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021(Figure). Alcohol abuse impacts both men and women, but men are more likely to drink heavily, develop alcoholism, and lose their lives to alcohol-related diseases and violence. From 2007 to 2017, the percentage of alcohol-related deaths among American men increased by 29%. Binge Drinking During the pandemic, telehealth services for behavioral health and other care may have been more accessible to those living in urban areas, where an internet connection is more likely to be available or reliable (Figure 5). “Like gasoline, people consume more alcohol when it’s less expensive. “Even without raising taxes, simply indexing alcohol taxes for inflation would result in less drinking—and probably less violence against women,” he said. In a culture where drinking is part of the social fabric, policies to increase taxes or limit advertising might seem like an uphill battle. But it is one worth fighting, Humphreys added—and mental health professionals are well positioned to help advocate for that change. “There was a time when the tobacco industry seemed politically invincible, but when enough deaths and destruction mount up, things can change. Treatment for End-Stage Alcoholism Get professional help from an addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp. A diagnosis […]