[Changing alcohol abuse patterns]

Abstract

While it has been steadily declining since the 1960s, though at a slower pace over the last 5 years, the average alcohol consumption per capita and per year in France remains one of the highest in Europe. The available general population surveys reveal that the most visible change is the type of alcohol abuse. Two emerging trends have been observed over the last ten years, and seem to be worsening: the transfer from daily drinking to weekend drinking, and the increase in isolated risk-taking related to acute alcoholization associated with more-or-less conscious inebriation episodes. These changes require adapting prevention messages, the development of alcohol risk screening strategies in emergency units and the assessment of therapeutic programs aiming at reducing the risks of alcohol consumption rather than maintaining abstinence.