Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Consistent with that mission, CDC works to prevent excessive alcohol use and its impact in states and communities through public health surveillance, partnerships, and applied research for translation into public health practice. CDC also works to prevent specific alcohol-related harms, including various injuries and violence, motor vehicle crashes, sexually transmitted infections, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

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Resources

Getting Candid: Framing the Conversation around Youth Substance Use Prevention (Message Guide and Toolkit)

This message guide and toolkit equips youth-serving providers and organizations with the tools and resources necessary to support meaningful prevention messaging. It includes messaging on youth substance...

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

Often called the voice of CDC, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) series is CDC’s primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, accurate, and objective public health information and...

National Health Interview Survey

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has monitored the health of the nation since 1957. NHIS data on a broad range of health topics are collected through personal household interviews.

Alcohol Use and Your Health

This CDC printable fact sheet defines excessive drinking and summarizes the short- and long-term risks of excessive alcohol use.

YRBS Data Summary & Trends

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement on the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) provides the most recent surveillance data on health behaviors and experiences among high school...

Dietary Guidelines for Alcohol Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet describes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on alcohol consumption, and discusses moderate alcohol consumption.

PLACES: Local Data for Better Health

The PLACES Project provides model-based population-level analysis and community estimates for chronic disease risk factors, including binge drinking, for all counties, places (incorporated and census designated places), census tracts, and...

Underage Drinking Fact Sheet (CDC)

This fact sheet summarizes the prevalence and consequences of underage drinking, including that it is associated with adult drinking. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and...

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among...

Excessive Alcohol Use and Men's Health Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the effects of excessive alcohol consumption on men's health, and provides data & risks specific to males.

Excessive Alcohol Use and Women's Health Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the effects of excessive alcohol consumption on women's health, and provides data & risks specific to females.

Excessive Alcohol Use: Preventing a Leading Risk for Death, Disease, and Injury

This fact sheet summarizes statistics about excessive alcohol use, including binge and underage drinking, as a public health problem and steps being taken by CDC to address this problem. (Centers...

Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet describes the history of the age 21 minimum legal purchase age and how this policy has saved lives.

Preventing Excessive Alcohol Use Fact Sheet

This factsheet about preventing excessive alcohol consumption summarizes recommendations to prevent excessive alcohol use from The Community Preventive Services Task Force and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. It also...

Different methods to measure alcohol outlet density

The number of alcohol stores and retailers in a certain area, referred to as outlet density, is a risk factor for alcohol use and its consequences, including violent crime. Researchers...

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the nation’s premier system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health...

Prescription Opioid Misuse and Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students in the US, 2019

This August 2020 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) series addresses substance use, including alcohol use, among High School Students using CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. This...

Monitoring Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Cable TV in the United States

As part of the CDC-supported Monitoring  Youth Exposure to Alcohol Marketing project, Abt Associates has released a series of reports that monitor youth exposure to non-compliant alcohol advertising on cable TV.

Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost from Excessive Alcohol Use in the U.S.

This study, using the CDC Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application, found that excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year, or 261 deaths per...

Alcohol and Caffeine Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the risks of mixing alcohol and caffeine and the policy history of the availability of caffeinated alcoholic beverages (CABs).

Trends in adult binge drinking in the United States

Binge drinking is a serious public health problem that can lead to devastating consequences. Researchers wanted to see how the amount and pattern of binge drinking among U.S. adults had...

Youth Online

Youth Online, a service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lets you analyze national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data from 1991 to 2019. Data...

YRBS Explorer

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults, including—Alcohol and other...

Consumer Costs and Job Impacts from State Alcohol Tax Increases

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends increasing alcohol taxes based on strong evidence that this can reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. However, questions have been raised about...

Many people who misuse prescription opioids also binge drink

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to understand the relationship between binge drinking and prescription opioid misuse. They used the National Survey on Drug Use...

Trends in the Prevalence of Behaviors that Contribute to Unintentional Injury: National YRBS: 1991-2019

This chart, based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Surveys from 1991–2019, compares the percentage of students in grades 9 to 12 who rode with a driver who had been...

Trends in the Prevalence of Alcohol Use: National YRBS: 1991-2019

This chart, based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, shows the prevalence of current alcohol use by students in grades 9 to 12 from 1991–2019. Percentage of students who...

CDC Alcohol Portal

This portal provides data, statistics, and information about excessive alcohol use. While most people know that drinking too much alcohol can lead to injuries and deaths in car crashes, many...

Adolescent and School Health: School Connectedness

School connectedness—the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals—is an important protective factor. Research has...

Current and Binge Drinking Among High School Students - United States, 1991-2015

This study, conducted by the CDC, found that despite progress, current and binge drinking are common among high school students, and many students who binge drink do so at high...

CDC Guide for Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density

CDC developed the Guide for Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density to help public health practitioners measure alcohol outlet density—which is a key risk factor for excessive drinking—at state and local levels.

Vital Signs: Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancies — United States, 2011–2013

This February 2016 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Vital Signs series addresses the risks associated with drinking during pregnancy. ...

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Strategizer: Reducing Alcohol-Related Harms Through Commercial Host Liability

Strategizer 57: Reducing Alcohol-Related Harms Through Commercial Host Liability introduces public health departments, community coalitions and other interested organizations and individuals to commercial host liability as a public health intervention to...

Alcohol Poisoning Deaths

This January 2015 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses alcohol poisoning, a deadly consequence of binge drinking.

Binge Drinking: A Serious, Under-Recognized Problem Among Women and Girls

This January 2013 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses Binge Drinking among women and girls. Binge drinking is a dangerous behavior but is not widely recognized as a...

Binge Drinking: Nationwide Problems, Local Solutions

This January 2012 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses Binge Drinking throughout the US. New estimates show that binge drinking is a bigger problem than previously thought; binge...

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Strategizer: Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide

Strategizer 55, Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide, outlines available evidence-based community prevention strategies shown to decrease the consequences associated with alcohol outlet density, the concentration of bars, restaurants serving...

Preventing Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Enhanced Enforcement of Laws Prohibiting Sales to Minors

This factsheet about preventing excessive alcohol consumption provides general information on laws prohibiting sales to minors, and it includes recommendations and results from a systematic review process on practices and...

Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking

This report presents statistics on the nature and extent of underage drinking in the United States. It also discusses the role of the federal government in preventing and reducing underage...

Getting Candid: Framing the Conversation around Youth Substance Use Prevention (Message Guide and Toolkit)

This message guide and toolkit equips youth-serving providers and organizations with the tools and resources necessary to support meaningful prevention messaging. It includes messaging on youth substance...

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

Often called the voice of CDC, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) series is CDC’s primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, accurate, and objective public health information and...

National Health Interview Survey

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has monitored the health of the nation since 1957. NHIS data on a broad range of health topics are collected through personal household interviews.

Alcohol Use and Your Health

This CDC printable fact sheet defines excessive drinking and summarizes the short- and long-term risks of excessive alcohol use.

YRBS Data Summary & Trends

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement on the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) provides the most recent surveillance data on health behaviors and experiences among high school...

Dietary Guidelines for Alcohol Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet describes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on alcohol consumption, and discusses moderate alcohol consumption.

PLACES: Local Data for Better Health

The PLACES Project provides model-based population-level analysis and community estimates for chronic disease risk factors, including binge drinking, for all counties, places (incorporated and census designated places), census tracts, and...

Underage Drinking Fact Sheet (CDC)

This fact sheet summarizes the prevalence and consequences of underage drinking, including that it is associated with adult drinking. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and...

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among...

Excessive Alcohol Use and Men's Health Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the effects of excessive alcohol consumption on men's health, and provides data & risks specific to males.

Excessive Alcohol Use and Women's Health Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the effects of excessive alcohol consumption on women's health, and provides data & risks specific to females.

Excessive Alcohol Use: Preventing a Leading Risk for Death, Disease, and Injury

This fact sheet summarizes statistics about excessive alcohol use, including binge and underage drinking, as a public health problem and steps being taken by CDC to address this problem. (Centers...

Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet describes the history of the age 21 minimum legal purchase age and how this policy has saved lives.

Preventing Excessive Alcohol Use Fact Sheet

This factsheet about preventing excessive alcohol consumption summarizes recommendations to prevent excessive alcohol use from The Community Preventive Services Task Force and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. It also...

Different methods to measure alcohol outlet density

The number of alcohol stores and retailers in a certain area, referred to as outlet density, is a risk factor for alcohol use and its consequences, including violent crime. Researchers...

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the nation’s premier system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health...

Prescription Opioid Misuse and Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students in the US, 2019

This August 2020 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) series addresses substance use, including alcohol use, among High School Students using CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. This...

Monitoring Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Cable TV in the United States

As part of the CDC-supported Monitoring  Youth Exposure to Alcohol Marketing project, Abt Associates has released a series of reports that monitor youth exposure to non-compliant alcohol advertising on cable TV.

Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost from Excessive Alcohol Use in the U.S.

This study, using the CDC Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application, found that excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year, or 261 deaths per...

Alcohol and Caffeine Fact Sheet

This CDC fact sheet discusses the risks of mixing alcohol and caffeine and the policy history of the availability of caffeinated alcoholic beverages (CABs).

Trends in adult binge drinking in the United States

Binge drinking is a serious public health problem that can lead to devastating consequences. Researchers wanted to see how the amount and pattern of binge drinking among U.S. adults had...

Youth Online

Youth Online, a service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lets you analyze national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data from 1991 to 2019. Data...

YRBS Explorer

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults, including—Alcohol and other...

Consumer Costs and Job Impacts from State Alcohol Tax Increases

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends increasing alcohol taxes based on strong evidence that this can reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. However, questions have been raised about...

Many people who misuse prescription opioids also binge drink

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to understand the relationship between binge drinking and prescription opioid misuse. They used the National Survey on Drug Use...

Trends in the Prevalence of Behaviors that Contribute to Unintentional Injury: National YRBS: 1991-2019

This chart, based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Surveys from 1991–2019, compares the percentage of students in grades 9 to 12 who rode with a driver who had been...

Trends in the Prevalence of Alcohol Use: National YRBS: 1991-2019

This chart, based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, shows the prevalence of current alcohol use by students in grades 9 to 12 from 1991–2019. Percentage of students who...

CDC Alcohol Portal

This portal provides data, statistics, and information about excessive alcohol use. While most people know that drinking too much alcohol can lead to injuries and deaths in car crashes, many...

Adolescent and School Health: School Connectedness

School connectedness—the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals—is an important protective factor. Research has...

Current and Binge Drinking Among High School Students - United States, 1991-2015

This study, conducted by the CDC, found that despite progress, current and binge drinking are common among high school students, and many students who binge drink do so at high...

CDC Guide for Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density

CDC developed the Guide for Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density to help public health practitioners measure alcohol outlet density—which is a key risk factor for excessive drinking—at state and local levels.

Vital Signs: Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancies — United States, 2011–2013

This February 2016 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Vital Signs series addresses the risks associated with drinking during pregnancy. ...

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Strategizer: Reducing Alcohol-Related Harms Through Commercial Host Liability

Strategizer 57: Reducing Alcohol-Related Harms Through Commercial Host Liability introduces public health departments, community coalitions and other interested organizations and individuals to commercial host liability as a public health intervention to...

Alcohol Poisoning Deaths

This January 2015 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses alcohol poisoning, a deadly consequence of binge drinking.

Binge Drinking: A Serious, Under-Recognized Problem Among Women and Girls

This January 2013 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses Binge Drinking among women and girls. Binge drinking is a dangerous behavior but is not widely recognized as a...

Binge Drinking: Nationwide Problems, Local Solutions

This January 2012 edition of the CDC Vital Signs series addresses Binge Drinking throughout the US. New estimates show that binge drinking is a bigger problem than previously thought; binge...

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Strategizer: Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide

Strategizer 55, Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide, outlines available evidence-based community prevention strategies shown to decrease the consequences associated with alcohol outlet density, the concentration of bars, restaurants serving...

Preventing Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Enhanced Enforcement of Laws Prohibiting Sales to Minors

This factsheet about preventing excessive alcohol consumption provides general information on laws prohibiting sales to minors, and it includes recommendations and results from a systematic review process on practices and...

Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking

This report presents statistics on the nature and extent of underage drinking in the United States. It also discusses the role of the federal government in preventing and reducing underage...