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Kentucky Sees Big Change in the Number of People Who Drink Alcohol

Toni Blay, Flickr Commons

Kentucky has seen the highest percent change in alcohol use compared to any other state, according to a report from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington .

The county by county study “Drinking patterns in US counties from 2002 to 2012” showed 30.6 percent of Kentuckians drank alcohol in 2002. That percentage had increased to 43.1 percent in 2012, a 40.9 percent change. Tennessee followed behind Kentucky at 26.7 percent. Louisiana came in third at 13.3 percent.

Dr. Ali Mokdad said the institute conducted the study to give health departments a better understanding of local health indicators to better utilize their limited resources. Researchers used data from a telephone survey ongoing since 1985 conducted by state health departments with help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mokdad said he was not surprised by Kentucky’s high percent change because the state had so much room to grow.

“Kentucky is among the states that is not, they don’t consume a lot of alcohol and the percentage of any drinking is very low compared to anywhere else except a few [places]. But the percent increase is the highest because you guys started at a very low rate,” Mokdad said.

Mokdad said three factors drive alcohol consumption: socioeconomics, number of alcohol outlets, and patterns of social behavior.

“If you look at these three factors, the south is changing,” Mokdad said. “So I would say people who started in the south, started at lower alcohol consumption due to religion and behavior and outlets. We’re moving toward an average, or norm, that everybody is fitting in, unfortunately.”

Mokdad said women drink less than men generally. But women had the highest increases in three of the study’s categories including any drinking, binge drinking, and heavy drinking, a trend seen in Kentucky and nationwide.

“But again this is where social norms come in to play. They hang out with guys and they tend to pick these habits from guys. And we’ve seen the same patterns with tobacco, where men picked up tobacco first, they consumed more tobacco, and then women started increasing and trying to catch up with men. And we see the same patterns right now with binge drinking,” Mokdad said.  

Despite Kentucky leading the nation in increase of alcohol use among its population, the state still has one of the lowest percentages of drinkers.

A proud native of Murray, Kentucky, Allison grew up roaming the forests of western Kentucky and visiting national parks across the country. She graduated in 2014 from Murray State University where she studied Environmental Sustainability, Television Production, and Spanish. She loves meeting new people, questioning everything, and dancing through the sun and the rain. She hopes to make a positive impact in this world several endeavors at a time.
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