What mentioned as the surprising fact in the study? [br] [originaltext]Reporter

Reporter: First of all, we have known that excessive drinking has different costs on society. It’s often a tragedy for the family or the loved ones of the disease, but what surprised you a-bout these numbers in the study?
Interviewee: Well, Hari, you are right, we have known that excessive alcohol use is a huge public health problem for a long time. What surprised us in this study was the extent to which that public health impact was focused on working-age adults. And as you noted in your opener, we estimate that about one in 10 deaths among working-age adults, ages 20—64 years, are attributable to excessive alcohol use. That’s a huge number and certainly indicates to us that we need to redouble our efforts to prevent it.
Reporter: So this study also said that—other statistic that reached out to me was the fourth leading cause of death attributable to excessive drinking. How do we define excessive?
Interviewee: Well, excessive alcohol use is a sort of an umbrella term that we use for various patterns of alcohol consumption and also for drinking among certain high-risk groups. So under the umbrella, we would include binge-drinking, which is, for a woman, consuming four or more drinks on an occasion that is within a short period of time, for men, five or more drinks within an occasion that is again within a short period of time, basically drinking to the point of acute intoxication. And then any alcohol consumption by groups that we know to be at particularly high risk of harms from alcohol consumption, specifically underage youth, that is youth under age 21, and pregnant women.
Reporter: And what are these factors that influence that? Does it happen more among males, more among young people?
Interviewee: Well, there certainly are some important differences across different population groups. And yes, we know that men tend to binge-drink more than women. The prevalence, as we call it, the proportion of people who report binge-drinking is higher in younger-age groups, 18—24, but also 25—34. But it’s important to recognize that this really is an important public health problem across the lifespan. But it’s also a very expensive problem for all of us. And, as you noted in your opening, we estimate the economic cost of excessive drinking at about $ 224 billion a year. And a large proportion of that cost, about $ 2 out of every $ 5, is paid for by government. So, essentially, all of us are paying the cost of excessive alcohol use.
Reporter: And the results of this survey are self-reported. So is there a possibility that the numbers you’re talking about could even be higher?
Interviewee: Absolutely. The estimates that we reported in our study, which, again, are deaths that are attributable to excessive alcohol use, are calculated in a variety of different ways, but part of that calculation does involve self-reports of alcohol consumption by individuals. And we know that people tend to significantly under-report their alcohol consumption.
Reporter: So what do we know about policies or practices that change consumption behavior? What works?
Interviewee: From a public perspective, policies that relate to the price and availability of alcohol are among those that we think can be most impactful in reducing excessive alcohol consumption.