Alcohol is a significant factor in hospital admissions, road traffic deaths, industrial accidents, accidental drowning, homicide and suicide. The morbidity and disability resulting from alcohol misuse represent a major burden to nearly all countries in the world. Quite apart from the problems affecting individuals, alcohol is implicated in a range of social problems including domestic violence, marital breakdown, absenteeism from work, and child abuse. Young people can be particularly vulnerable to acute alcohol effects because of their lower tolerance to alcohol, their lack of experience with drinking, and their more hazardous patterns of drinking which include episodic drinking in high risk situations. Women are also at higher risk of alcohol-related harm than men because of their physical differences related to body weight and composition of fatty tissue.
Women reach a higher blood alcohol concentration than men for the same amount of alcohol consumed.
Drinking during pregnancy has been linked with a higher risk of miscarriage, still birth and premature births, and foetal alcohol syndrome. The World Health Organization strives to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by the use of alcohol. However, there is no single solution to reducing alcohol related harm. What is required is a comprehensive range of strategies which can address the many causes and dimensions of alcohol problems. The chief uncertainty is not whether these will occur, but exactly when.