The CAS study found that for a sample of 140 colleges nationwide, 44% of the responding students were binge (≥5/4 successive drinks) drinkers (Wechsler et al., 1994). The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) study assessed adults who were 18 years of age or greater through a random-digit telephone survey across the United States between 1993 and 2001 (Naimi et al., 2003). The number of binge episodes (≥5 alcoholic beverages in one sitting) among adults in the United States increased from about 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion. The younger adults in this sample (18–25 years) evinced the highest rate of binge-drinking episodes in the year 2001, whereas individuals older than 55 years had the lowest rate of binge-drinking episodes (Naimi et al., 2003). Differences in the prevalence estimates (CAS vs. BRFSS) may be due to different populations, with the CAS targeting college students and the BRFSS targeting the general community.
