The cost of alcoholism in the United States approximates $185 billion each year (Harwood et al., 2000). Over half of adult Americans have a family history of alcoholism or alcohol abuse, and nearly one-third of Americans over 18 years-of-age have a life-time diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence (Research Society on Alcoholism, 2009). Previous estimates of the ratio of men to women who abuse alcohol has varied between 2:1 and 3:1 (Brienza and Stein, 2002), with this gender gap narrowing in older and younger populations (Brienza and Stein, 2002; Nelson et al., 1998; Wilsnack et al., 1991). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rank alcohol drinking as the third leading cause of preventable death (Mokdad et al., 2004). For example, the mortality of women with substance use disorders is four times that of breast cancer (Blumenthal, 1997), with a causal relationship delineated between alcohol use and at least 50 different medical conditions (Rehm et al., 2003; also see Reed et al., 1996 for a discussion on the role of genetics).
