Social Determinants and Alcohol Dependency as a Public Health Issue

This report examines alcohol dependency as a significant public health issue, focusing on the youth of America. It highlights various health problems associated with heavy alcohol consumption, including liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, and anemia. The report delves into the social determinants contributing to alcohol dependency, and it discusses interventions implemented by the US government, such as limiting the drinking age, health promotion campaigns, and policies related to alcohol advertisements. Challenges related to the interventions are also discussed, such as the difficulties in execution and screening processes. The report references key sources like the CDC, NIAAA, and relevant research papers to support its findings. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for comprehensive strategies to address alcohol dependency and its impact on public health.

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY AS PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
Chosen health issue Associated health problems
and descriptions
List of public health
agencies
The chosen topic for this
assessment is alcohol
dependency and alcohol abuse
in the youth of America
As per the reports of National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, 86.4% people
in USA consume alcohol in
their lifetime and 26.9%
people are binge drinkers.
Further, the report also
mentioned that more than 15.1
million people were suffering
from alcohol however, only
6.7% people within this
population has received
treatment and hence, leads to
more than 88,000 death every
year due to alcohol
dependency (National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, 2018).
The number of health related
issues arises from heavy
alcohol consumption or binge
drinking. These can range
from cirrhosis of liver to
cancer, cardiovascular disease
and anemia.
Liver cirrhosis- on heavy
alcohol consumption, the liver
cells are replaced by scars that
stops the liver from working
properly. This physiological
change starts from fatty lever
that further creates alcohol
hepatitis and finally alcohol
cirrhosis (Singal et al., 2012).
Cardiovascular diseases- it is
evident that due to heavy
drinking or binge drinking, the
platelets clump together and
forms clusters that leads to
heart attack. Further, it has
also seen that due to heavy
drinking, cardiomyopathy
related condition arises that
weakens the heart muscles and
disrupts the heartbeat rhythm
(Danielsson et al., 2012).
Anemia- from the researchers
conducted by Danielsson et al.
(2012), it has been observed
that due to heavy drinking and
binge drinking, the number of
red blood cells decreases
causing fatigue and breathing
issues.
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA)
US Department of Health and
Human Services
National Institute on Health
National Institute on Drug
Abuse

2SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
Interventions Description Challenges
The first intervention that the
USA government has
undertaken for health
improvements of Alcohol
abused individuals is limiting
the age of drinking.
Now as per CDC, the
minimum age of drinking is
21 years and people under that
age can drink with their
parents only. Using this the
government has planned to
stop or limit the underage
drinking as the number of
underage drinkers are
maximum (CDC, 2018).
The challenge of this
intervention is execution. The
government implemented the
rule without any further
intimation and is not using
any promotional campaign to
make this campaign reach to
the rural areas.
Health promotion campaigns. The USA government has
started health promotional
camps, in which, individuals
with issues related to alcohol
dependency are provided with
information that ca help them
to lower their alcohol
dependency (National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, 2018).
The challenge is the screening
process of such health
promotional campaign as it is
not possible to screen each of
these people and provide an
improvement or growth chart
so their rate of alcohol
dependency can be assessed.
Policy related to
advertisements of alcohol
producing companies.
The US government also
made the alcohol producing
company realize their
responsibility related to
alcohol abuse and asked them
to make less influencing
advertisements so that more
people can be prevented from
such abuse (National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, 2018).
The challenge can be the
influence from peers or family
as maximum number of
alcohol abusers confess that
they were influenced by their
peers or their cousins for
binge drinking. Hence, the
government should also
include these factors in their
interventions.

3SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
References
CDC. (2018). CDC - Fact Sheets-Underage Drinking - Alcohol. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm
Danielsson, A. K., Wennberg, P., Hibell, B., & Romelsjö, A. (2012). Alcohol use, heavy
episodic drinking and subsequent problems among adolescents in 23 European countries:
does the prevention paradox apply?. Addiction, 107(1), 71-80.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2018). Alcohol Facts and Statistics |
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Retrieved from
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-
and-statistics
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2018). Strategies to Prevent Underage
Drinking. Retrieved from https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh26-1/5-14.htm
Singal, A. K., Bashar, H., Anand, B. S., Jampana, S. C., Singal, V., & Kuo, Y. F. (2012).
Outcomes after liver transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis are similar to alcoholic
cirrhosis: exploratory analysis from the UNOS database. Hepatology, 55(5), 1398-1405.