U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce the proportion of people who had alcohol use disorder in the past year — SU‑13 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), SAMHSA

Baseline: 5.4 percent of persons aged 12 years and over had an alcohol use disorder (defined as meeting DSM-IV criteria) in the past 12 months in 2018

Target: 3.9 percent

Numerator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over with alcohol use disorder (defined as meeting DSM-IV criteria) in the past 12 months.
Denominator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over.
Target-setting method
Projection
Target-setting method details
Linear trend fitted using weighted least squares and a projection at the 67 percent prediction interval.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were evaluated for this objective. Using historical data points, a trend line was fitted using weighted least squares, and the trend was projected into the next decade. This method was used because three or more comparable data points were available, the projected value was within the range of possible values, and a projection at the 67 percent prediction interval was selected because no additional information could be used to assess the trend line, so the target was based on the projection.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

Numerator:
DRALC01 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, was there a month or more when you spent a lot of your time getting or drinking alcohol?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC02 [IF DRALC01 = 2 OR DK/REF] During the past 12 months, was there a month or more when you spent a lot of time getting over the effects of the alcohol you drank?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC04 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you try to set limits on how often or how much alcohol you would drink?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC05 [IF DRALC04 = 1] Were you able to keep to the limits you set, or did you often drink more than you intended to?
  1. Usually kept to the limits set
  2. Often drank more than intended
DRALC06 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you need to drink more alcohol than you used to in order to get the effect you wanted?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC07 [IF DRALCO6=2 OR DK/REF] During the past 12 months, did you notice that drinking the same amount of alcohol had less effect on you than it used to?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC08 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you want to or try to cut down or stop drinking alcohol?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC09 [IF DRALC08 = 1] During the past 12 months, were you able to cut down or stop drinking alcohol every time you wanted to or tried to?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC10 During the past 12 months, did you cut down or stop drinking at least one time?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC11 [IF DRALC09 = 1 OR DRALC10 = 1] Please look at the symptoms listed below. During the past 12 months, did you have 2 or more of these symptoms after you cut back or stopped drinking alcohol?
  • Sweating or feeling that your heart was beating fast
  • Having your hands tremble
  • Having trouble sleeping
  • Vomiting or feeling nauseous
  • Seeing, hearing, or feeling things that weren't really there
  • Feeling like you couldn't sit still
  • Feeling anxious
  • Having seizures or fits
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC12 [IF DRALC11 = 1] Please look at the symptoms listed below. During the past 12 months, did you have 2 or more of these symptoms at the same time that lasted for longer than a day after you cut back or stopped drinking alcohol?
  • Sweating or feeling that your heart was beating fast
  • Having your hands tremble
  • Having trouble sleeping
  • Vomiting or feeling nauseous
  • Seeing, hearing, or feeling things that weren't really there
  • Feeling like you couldn't sit still
  • Feeling anxious
  • Having seizures or fits
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC13 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you have any problems with your emotions, nerves, or mental health that were probably caused or made worse by drinking alcohol?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC14 [IF DRALC13 = 1] Did you continue to drink alcohol even though you thought drinking was causing you to have problems with your emotions, nerves, or mental health?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC15 [IF DRALC13 = 2 OR DK/REF OR DRALC14 = 2 OR DK/REF] During the past 12 months, did you have any physical health problems that were probably caused or made worse by drinking alcohol?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC16 [IF DRALC15 = 1] Did you continue to drink alcohol even though you thought drinking was causing you to have physical problems?
  1. Yes
  2. No

DRALC17 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] This question is about important activities such as working, going to school, taking care of doing fun things such as hobbies and sports, and spending time with friends and family

During the past 12 months, did drinking alcohol cause you to give up or spend less time doing these types of important activities?

  1. Yes
  2. No

DRALC18 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] Sometimes people who drink alcohol have serious problems at home, work or school — such as:

  • neglecting their children
  • missing work or school
  • doing a poor job at work or school
  • losing a job or dropping out of school
During the past 12 months, did drinking alcohol cause you to have serious problems like this either at home, work, or school?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC19 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you regularly drink alcohol and then do something where being drunk might have put you in physical danger?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC20 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did drinking alcohol cause you to do things that repeatedly got you in trouble with the law?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC21 [IF ALC12MON = 1 - 3] During the past 12 months, did you have any problems with family or friends that were probably caused by your drinking?
  1. Yes
  2. No
DRALC22 [IF DRALC21 = 1] Did you continue to drink alcohol even though you thought your drinking caused problems with family or friends?
  1. Yes
  2. No

Methodology notes

The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) described two distinct disorders—alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence—with specific criteria for each. The fifth edition, DSM-5, integrates the two DSM-IV disorders, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, into a single disorder called alcohol use disorder, or AUD, with mild, moderate, and severe sub-classifications.

1. Because Healthy People 2030 objectives have a desired direction (e.g., increase or decrease), the confidence level of a one-sided prediction interval can be used as an indication of how likely a target will be to achieve based on the historical data and fitted trend.