Although the purpose of this Epidemiologic Bulletin is to present the national rates of alcohol abuse and dependence according to the most recent psychiatric classification of alcohol-related disorders (i.e., the DSM–IV), provisions also were made within the NLAES to measure alcohol abuse and dependence by historic diagnostic classifications (i.e., the DSM–III and DSM–III–R). Representation of multiple definitions of alcohol-related disorders will facilitate direct comparisons between the NLAES DSM–III estimates and the DSM–III estimates of the 1984 National Survey on Alcohol Use and between the NLAES DSM–III–R estimates and the DSM–III–R estimates derived from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey. It remains to be seen if trends exist over time in alcohol abuse and dependence. Such trends will become evident once the diagnostic definitions across these surveys are equalized. To this end, a series of reports focusing on trends in alcohol-related disorders between the years 1984 and 1992 currently are being prepared by NIAAA. These reports will present, for the first time, changes in the rates for alcohol abuse and dependence over the last decade.
