Renewed Urgency Voiced Over Alcohol Abuse Issues

Possibly because alcohol is so prevalent in modern society, drinking often is seen as an issue apart from other drug use. But now, a survey by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. concludes that there is new urgency to eliminate the distinction between alcohol and other abused substances.

Alcohol issues, including drinking among youth and pregnant women, the company argues, “deserve at least as much media, medical and social attention as illicit drug use.” The survey found that more than 30% of high school seniors surveyed in 1984 said they had started to drink by the time they were 13.

Regional Differences

The survey also found striking regional differences in alcohol consumption, implying that the Northeast and Pacific states substantially exceed national averages. Each person in the United States drinks a total of 2.65 gallons of alcohol a year, the survey concluded, a figure derived from the presumed pure alcohol percentage of various alcoholic beverages.

The District of Columbia had the highest alcohol consumption rate, 5.34 gallons per person. Second was Nevada (5.19 gallons), followed by New Hampshire (4.91) and Alaska (3.86). California ranked sixth at 3.19.

Mormon-dominated Utah, which often leads the nation in surveys of healthful behavior, had the lowest alcohol consumption rate (1.53) with the Southern states of Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and West Virginia also low. The survey also found regional differences in the type of alcohol preferred. Beer has been the nation’s most popular alcoholic beverage since 1968 and now accounts for 51% of the nation’s consumption. In the District of Columbia, Nevada and New Hampshire, however, liquor dominated.

ALCOHOL-BULIMIA LINK?

A UC Berkeley expert says she suspects people prone to bulimia--the dangerous binge-purge syndrome--may also have a predisposition to alcohol abuse.

In interviews with 11 bulimics, psychologist Cindy Bulik said she found that nine--compared with only two of 12 non-bulimics--either were alcoholics or said a close family member was. The university said Bulik’s findings will be published in a medical journal soon.

The compulsive behavior of bulimia is characterized by eating large amounts in a brief period, followed by induced vomiting or the massive use of laxatives. Most bulimics are women, but Bulik says she has found evidence that the stereotype that confines the disorder to white females may no longer be valid. She said she has seen a number of Latinas and Asian women with the disorder and believes it may be growing in frequency among immigrants.

UPDATE ON ESTROGEN

Stick-on patches as an alternative to taking replacement estrogen in pill form for women after menopause have gotten high marks from the Medical Letter, an influential newsletter on drugs and medical devices. Developed at UCLA, the patches permit maintenance of adequate levels of estrogen at much lower doses than oral estrogen replacement medications, the Medical Letter concluded. The publication cautioned, though, that in line with recommendations of the patch’s developers, a woman using the product should also take the hormone progestin to minimize her risk of endometrial cancer. The maker of the patch and companies marketing oral estrogen have been locked in a public relations war over which product is better since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the patch.

MISCELLANEA MEDICA

Echoing cautions voiced since President Reagan’s colon cancer surgery focused public attention on early detection of intestinal cancer, the Medical Letter warns that some commercial tests for detection of hidden blood in the stool may be unreliable and concludes that the effectiveness of such tests in preventing death from colon cancer “has not been established.” . . .

A recent study published in the journal Physician and Sports Medicine questions the ability of increasingly popular lateral knee braces to prevent athletic injuries, noting that, so far, there is little proof that the heavily marketed braces have much value in injury prevention.

DOCTORS’ LEXICON

Most people’s hearts operate at the normal rate of about 72 beats per minute--with allowances for temporary increases and decreases depending on physical activity and other variables. But in many others, the heart may beat abnormally fast or slowly for long periods of time--conditions that bring with them the risk of a variety of dangerous rhythm disturbances and require medical attention. Bradycardia is a catch-all term that describes the various abnormal patterns in which the heart beats too slowly. Tachycardia is the proper term for abnormally fast heart rates. A new computer program designed for doctors to freshen their abilities to distinguish between different types of fast beating abnormalities is, not surprisingly, called TACH-MAN .