alcohol use disorder

noun

variants or less commonly alcohol-use disorder

plural alcohol use disorders also alcohol-use disorders

: a medical condition characterized by a pattern of frequent and usually excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, by strong cravings for alcohol often accompanied by episodes of depression, anxiety, or distress, by symptoms (such as restlessness or sweating) of alcohol withdrawal, and by the impaired ability to stop or control the intake of alcohol despite adverse effects on one's work, school, or family obligations

Note: Alcohol use disorder ranges from mild to severe and is typically considered to encompass conditions also referred to as alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism.

Over the long term, teen alcohol use can interfere with normal brain development and can increase the chance that the teens will develop an alcohol use disorder later in life.

—Cindy Kurman

About 40 to 50 soldiers assigned to Fort Meade are now undergoing treatment for alcohol use disorders.

—Lisa Rhodes

An estimated 18 million Americans suffer from alcohol-use disorder, as the DSM-5, the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual, calls it. … Only about 15 percent of those with alcohol-use disorder are at the severe end of the spectrum. The rest fall somewhere in the mild-to-moderate range …

—Gabrielle Glaser

—abbreviation AUD

Examples of alcohol use disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The researchers noted that people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) had less brain matter than others. —Amanda MacMillan, Health, 26 Mar. 2024

In 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13% of adult men and 9% of women had an alcohol use disorder in the US. —George Ramsay, CNN, 31 Jan. 2024

When drinking is causing a problem in someone’s life now, rather than just setting them up for potential health problems later, that’s what’s known as an alcohol use disorder. —Meg Wingerter, Hartford Courant, 8 Jan. 2024

Bach, who helped lead the recent trial of DBS for alcohol use disorder, supports further study of the technique as a potential treatment for substance use disorder. —Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Jan. 2024

Even those who haven’t struggled with alcohol use disorder can benefit from this type of reflection, Shah adds. —TIME, 27 Dec. 2023

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 67 percent of American adults 18 years and older reported drinking within the past year, with just over 11 percent reporting alcohol use disorder (AUD) within the same timeframe. —Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 30 Dec. 2023

Researchers with the University of Exeter, Maastricht University and other institutions found that 15 factors significantly increased the risk, including low socioeconomic status, alcohol use disorder, social isolation, vitamin D deficiency, hearing impairment, stroke, diabetes and depression. —Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 27 Dec. 2023

At the beginning of the ibogaine study, 23 of the participants met the criteria for PTSD, 14 for an anxiety disorder, and 15 for alcohol use disorder. —Emily Mullin, WIRED, 5 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

alcohol use disorder

noun

variants also alcohol-use disorder

: a medical condition characterized by a pattern of frequent and usually excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, by strong cravings for alcohol often accompanied by episodes of depression, anxiety, or distress, by symptoms (such as restlessness or sweating) of alcohol withdrawal, and by the impaired ability to stop or control the intake of alcohol despite adverse effects on one's work, school, or family obligations

Note: Alcohol use disorder ranges from mild to severe and is typically considered to encompass conditions also referred to as alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism.

Alcohol use disorder, a problematic pattern of alcohol use accompanied by clinically significant impairment or distress, is present in up to 14% of US adults during a 1-year period, although only about 8% of affected individuals are treated in an alcohol treatment facility.

—Henry R. Kranzler and Michael Soyka, The Journal of the American Medical Association

Despite physicians' awareness of the importance of screening and probing for alcohol use disorders, one problem that might explain the failure of screening to become routine could be that physicians "aren't sure what to do once they obtain a history" that suggests a problem, Dr. [Keith A.] Nichols said.

—Naseem S. Miller, Internal Medicine News

An estimated 18 million Americans suffer from alcohol-use disorder, as the DSM-5, the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual, calls it. … Only about 15 percent of those with alcohol-use disorder are at the severe end of the spectrum. The rest fall somewhere in the mild-to-moderate range …

—Gabrielle Glaser, The Atlantic

—abbreviation AUD