Heavy continuous drinking is part of the indicators which provide information regarding the patterns of alcohol consumption in a given country. More specifically, it identifies the proportion of the population which consumes high levels of alcohol every day, and consequently highlights the population which has a higher risk of experiencing alcohol-related acute harm but also developing chronic health complications.

Heavy continuous drinking or health continuous drinking among drinkers respectively is defined as the percentage of the population (adults 15+ years, 15-19 years, adults 15+ years among drinkers, or 15-19 years among drinkers) over a calendar year in a country who consume on average 60 or more grams of pure alcohol (i.e. ethanol) per day.

A consumption of 60 grams of pure alcohol corresponds approximately to 6 standard alcoholic drinks.

Numerator: The estimated number of population (adults 15+ years, 15-19 years, adults 15+ years among drinkers, or 15-19 years among drinkers) consuming 60 or more grams of pure alcohol (i.e. ethanol) per day.

Denominator: Midyear resident population (15+ years, 15-19 years) for the same calendar year, UN World Population Prospects, medium variant, or midyear resident population (15+ years, 15-19 years) for the same calendar year, UN World Population Prospects, medium variant who consumed at least one standard drink of alcohol in the past year respectively.

Sex, Age

The prevalence of heavy continuous drinkers in the population or among drinkers is not directly measured, but estimated using data on total alcohol per capita consumption, the prevalence of 15+ years or 15-19 years respectively who are past year drinkers, and the distribution of average daily alcohol consumption among past year drinkers

The prevalence of heavy continuous drinkers is determined through a synthesis of data sources, encompassing total alcohol per capita alcohol consumption, the prevalence of past year alcohol consumers, and the distribution of average daily alcohol intake among past year drinkers. Initially, country-level data on total alcohol per capita consumption are disaggregated by age and sex using survey data on the prevalence of past year alcohol consumers and survey data on average alcohol consumption among past year drinkers. A correction factor of 0.8 is applied to total alcohol per capita consumption to account for alcohol not consumed.
To characterize the distribution of alcohol consumption among past year drinkers, a gamma distribution model was employed. This method postulates that the standard deviation of the gamma distribution can be inferred from its mean. The gamma distribution is constrained between 0 and 150 g/day to reflect plausible alcohol intake levels. Subsequently, integration of this normalized gamma distribution within the range of 60 g/day to 150 g/day yields an estimate of the prevalence of heavy continuous drinkers among current (i.e. past year) consumers.

Heavy continuous drinking data exist for almost all countries. Regional and global estimates are calculated as a population weighted average of country data.

Every 3-5 years

Every 3-5 years

The estimation of heavy continuous drinking prevalence in the population and among drinkers relies on various foundational data sources, subject to several constraints. It is based upon total alcohol per capita alcohol consumption, the proportion of 15+ years or 15-19 years respectively who consumed alcohol in the past year, and the average volume of daily alcohol intake among past year drinkers (spanning age, sex, country, and time). The precision of these underlying data impact the accuracy of heavy continuous drinking. The calculation of heavy continuous drinking remains an estimate.

msb@who.int

NMH/MSD/MSB

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