Heavy episodic drinking is closely associated with AUD diagnoses. Approximately 44% of undergraduates in the United States reported at least one heavy episodic drinking occasion (i.e., five or more drinks in a single occasion for men and four or more for women) in the prior two weeks (Wechsler et al., 2000). In the same national survey, Knight et al. (2002) found that frequent heavy episodic drinkers (i.e., three or more heavy drinking occasions in the prior two weeks) were 13 times more likely to meet criteria for current abuse and 19 times more likely to meet criteria for current dependence than non-heavy drinkers. Occasional heavy episodic drinkers were four times as likely to meet criteria for either abuse or dependence compared with non-heavy drinkers.
