Our findings appear to rule out the possibility that a massive increase in AUDs occurred in the United States general population during this period, at least as measured by NLAES and NESARC. Specifically, our analyses indicate that a vast majority of change in lifetime AUD occurred with respect to alcohol abuse and not alcohol dependence. Moreover, most but not all of this increase in abuse was attributable to self-reported changes in hazardous use that do not track with other archival measures of outcomes related to hazardous use in the population. Key methodological differences regarding the assessment of recurrence/duration for prior-to-past-year alcohol abuse appeared to explain most of the discrepancy in lifetime AUD estimates. These findings, in conjunction with the relative lack of differences in the 12-month prevalence of AUDs, suggest that most if not all of these differences are likely due to method differences in the two surveys.
