Preventing Excessive Alcohol Use: What Public Health Can Do

Excessive alcohol use, including underage drinking and binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks during a single occasion for men or 4 or more drinks during a single occasion for women), is responsible for 80,000 deaths and 2.3 million years of potential life lost in the U.S. each year, and cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006 or about $1.90 per drink.

This powerful session of Public Health Grand Rounds explored the public health impact of excessive alcohol use and evidence-based strategies to prevent it, with specific attention to the role that state and local public health agencies play in addressing this important public health problem.