Over 20 percent of men at risk for alcohol disorders

The lifetime risk of developing an alcohol-use disorder is more than 20 percent for men, with a risk of about 15 percent for alcohol abuse and 10 percent for alcohol dependence, according to an article in the January 2009 Lancet. For women, the risk is less than half that of men, at 8-10 percent, wrote Marc Schuckit, MD, of the VA San Diego Healthcare System and University of California, San Diego, Calif., author of the article.