Is there such a thing as a healthy relationship with alcohol?

This is possible although many would disagree. The medical position is that there is no level of alcohol consumption that is safe. If the occasional drink brings joy then it is simply a question of balancing the pros and cons. The problem is that for many of us, those scales are not very accurate.

How much alcohol is considered too much?

There is no single threshold at which alcohol suddenly becomes harmful, but risk increases as consumption increases. In the UK, current guidelines suggest keeping intake below 14 units per week, spread over several days, as a way of limiting long-term health risks rather than guaranteeing safety.

What is Why We Drink Too Much about?

Why We Drink Too Much explores the biological, psychological, and cultural reasons humans consume alcohol. The book combines scientific research with personal insight to examine our complex relationship with drinking.

Can you be healthy and still drink alcohol?

Health exists on a spectrum, and many people who drink alcohol also engage in healthy behaviours. However, alcohol offers no health benefit of its own, and its effects need to be considered alongside sleep, diet, exercise, and mental wellbeing.

Are the Health Consequences of Alcohol Use Disorder Worse for Women?

12 Jul

Written By Annie Knowles

Citation

Scarth M et al.

Mental and somatic multimorbidity among individuals with alcohol use disorder: A sex-stratified registry study.

Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2026;286:113248.

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2026.113248

Each month, I review an important new alcohol research paper, separating the evidence from the headlines and explaining what the findings really mean.

Why This Paper Matters

Alcohol use disorder affects both men and women, but clinicians have long suspected that the health consequences may not be the same.

Many people assume this simply reflects differences in social attitudes or access to treatment. This large Norwegian study instead examined whether women with alcohol use disorder actually experience different patterns of physical and mental illness than men.

By analysing health records from more than 67,000 people with alcohol use disorder, it provides some of the strongest evidence to date that women often experience a greater burden of illness.

Study at a Glance

Who took part?
67,358 Norwegian adults with alcohol use disorder, together with a similar number of age- and sex-matched individuals without alcohol use disorder. Participants were born between 1951 and 1975.

Study design
A nationwide Norwegian registry study comparing physical and mental health diagnoses in people with and without alcohol use disorder.

What was the main question?
Whether women and men with alcohol use disorder differ in the prevalence and combinations of common physical and mental health conditions.

What Did the Researchers Find?

Alcohol use disorder was linked with many more health problems

People with alcohol use disorder had substantially more physical illnesses than healthy controls and were around three times more likely to have died during the study period.

Women carried a greater burden of physical illness

Women with alcohol use disorder had an average of nine medical diagnoses compared with six in men. Asthma, urinary disorders and dementia were particularly more common among women.

Mental health problems were common in both sexes

Both men and women showed high rates of mental health conditions, but women were more likely to experience severe stress reactions, anxiety and eating disorders. Men were more likely to have schizophrenia and other substance use disorders.

Women often experienced multiple conditions together

Women were more likely to have combinations of chronic pain and mental health conditions occurring together, suggesting a particularly complex pattern of illness.

Study limitations

This was an observational registry study, so it cannot prove that alcohol directly caused these illnesses.

The study also relied on diagnoses recorded within the healthcare system, meaning some people with alcohol use disorder or associated illnesses may not have been identified.

Finally, because the study was conducted in Norway, healthcare systems and drinking patterns may differ in other countries.

Why This Matters

The study suggests that alcohol use disorder may affect women differently as well as more severely.

Rather than experiencing a single illness, many women appear to develop multiple interacting physical and mental health conditions. This has important implications for assessment and treatment.

The findings also reinforce the importance of recognising alcohol use disorder as a whole-person medical condition rather than focusing solely on drinking behaviour.

Charles's View

For many years we have known that women tend to develop alcohol-related disease after lower levels of alcohol exposure than men. This study extends that understanding by showing that women with alcohol use disorder frequently experience a broader range of interconnected physical and mental health conditions.

It does not mean that alcohol use disorder is "easy" for men. Rather, it suggests that women often present with a different and more complex pattern of illness that deserves greater recognition in clinical practice.

As our understanding improves, treatment needs to become increasingly personalised rather than assuming one approach fits everyone.

Key Takeaway

Women with alcohol use disorder appear to experience a greater burden of both physical and mental illness than men, often involving multiple conditions occurring together.

This large Norwegian study reinforces the need for assessment and treatment that recognises these important sex differences.

Reference

Klausen M, Justesen S, Pedersen J et al. Once-weekly semaglutide versus placebo in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet. 2026;407:1687–1698.

DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00305-3

Annie Knowles