Subscribe to our newsletter. They are more susceptible than men to alcohol-related organ damage and to trauma resulting from traffic crashes and interpersonal violence. Women generally achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol. Compared with men, women develop alcohol-induced liver disease over a shorter period of time and after consuming less alcohol.
Women are also more likely than men to develop alcoholic hepatitis and to die from cirrhosis.
Women may be more vulnerable than men to alcohol-induced brain damage. Using MRI, researchers found that a brain region involved in coordinating multiple brain functions was significantly smaller among alcoholic women compared with both nonalcoholic women and alcoholic men. Many studies report that moderate to heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk for breast cancer, although one recent study found no increased breast cancer risk associated with consumption of up to one drink per day, the maximum drinking level reported by most women. Although women are less likely than men to drive after drinking and to be involved in fatal alcohol-related crashes, women have a higher relative risk of driver fatality than men at similar blood alcohol concentrations. Laboratory studies of the effects of alcohol on responding to visual cues and other tasks suggest that there may be gender differences in how alcohol affects the performance of driving tasks.