The 1-year prevalence of combined alcohol abuse and dependence in the NLAES sample was 7.41 percent, representing 13,760,000 Americans (table 1). Slightly more respondents were classified as alcohol dependent (4.38 percent) than as abusing alcohol (3.03 percent). Among those respondents meeting DSM–IV diagnostic criteria for dependence, the greatest proportion also met criteria for alcohol abuse. The predominance of the dual abuse-dependence diagnosis was generally consistent for each age, sex, and ethnic subgroup of the population. The majority of respondents with alcohol dependence diagnoses also were classified with physiological dependence (4.25 percent) in contrast to no physiological dependence (0.13 percent) (data not shown).
