Many people with alcohol use disorders report one episode lasting up to several years.
Patients with alcohol dependence who are seen in hospitals and clinics have frequent relapses. Interviews with 43,000 U.S. adults in a nationally representative sample provide new information on the usual course of alcohol use disorders.
The prevalence of past-year alcohol use disorders was 4.7% for abuse and 3.8% for dependence; 17.8% and 12.5% had lifetime abuse or dependence, respectively. Of those with lifetime alcohol dependence, only 24% reported ever receiving alcohol treatment, even when defined broadly to include 12-step programs, emergency departments, clergy, and other professionals. The mean age of onset of an alcohol use disorder was 22. Among those with lifetime abuse or dependence, 72% reported one episode; those with more than one episode had a mean of five episodes; the mean duration of the longest episode was 2.7 years for abuse and 3.7 years for dependence.
Comment: This nationally representative survey tells us that alcohol use disorders begin in youth and usually go without treatment. For a relatively small subset (likely those similar to patients seen by physicians repeatedly), alcohol dependence is characterized by recurrence, like other chronic diseases. But for most, even without treatment, the disorder consists of one symptomatic episode lasting up to several years.
— Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM
Published in Journal Watch General Medicine July 24, 2007