The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is soliciting comments from the scientists, agencies, and the public regarding US and international metrics of alcohol use/misuse, Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD), and alcohol-related mortality and pathology (e.g., alcohol-associated liver disease and death) and harmonization of alcohol measures and methods for research including epidemiology, prevention, treatment, and mechanisms studies.
Background
Alcohol misuse and related health problems take immense toll on individuals, families, and communities in the U.S. and globally. According to the World Health Organization, alcohol caused 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019. In the United States, more than 178,000 people die per year from alcohol misuse, making alcohol a leading preventable cause of death. According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 215.6 million adults ages 18 and older (84.1% in this age group) reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime. Nearly 30 million people in the United States have alcohol use disorder (AUD). Alcohol misuse is linked to more than 200 diseases and injury-related conditions. People who misuse alcohol are at greater risk of liver and heart disease, depression, stroke, stomach bleeding, specific cancers, as well as overdoses, drowning and injuries from violence, falls, and motor vehicle crashes. Women who use alcohol have a higher risk of certain alcohol-related problems compared to men. In addition, prenatal alcohol exposure can cause birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities, and a range of intellectual and behavioral problems in offspring. Youth alcohol use can also contribute to higher levels of drinking and problems throughout the life cycle.
International studies provide numerous opportunities for U.S. and global researchers to improve knowledge on epidemiology and trends of alcohol use/misuse, alcohol organ pathologies, and mechanisms involved in Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) and alcohol-related conditions, such as Alcohol Associated Liver Disease and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Benefits of international research include access to large and unique data sets and populations with different consumption levels, patterns, and policies to evaluate outcomes across countries over time. However, differences between countries in measurements of alcohol use (e.g. “a standard drink” size), and alcohol use/misuse measures, and indicators of alcohol-related mortality, morbidity, and pathology make it difficult to compare surveys and other research data on alcohol use/misuse and related outcomes across countries.
The issues of comparability of alcohol use measures and metrics need to be resolved to advance the mission of NIAAA, to generate and disseminate fundamental knowledge about the adverse effects of alcohol on health and well-being and to apply that knowledge to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of alcohol-related problems, including AUD, across the life course.
Scope/Objectives
NIAAA invites comments concerning commonly used alcohol research methods and measures, whether these support international comparisons, and the level of research interest to improve harmonization of these methods and measures. We want to explore potential differences and how we can harmonize the measurements to better understand the issues that each country is facing. The overarching goal is to enhance the rigor, generalizability, and value of NIAAA research on epidemiology, trends and the impact of alcohol use, misuse, and AUD on health and well-being, and alcohol-related mortality and pathology.
NIAAA wants to hear from investigators and agencies who are interested in conducting and interpreting research in this area. We are especially interested in learning what level of scientific interests exist on this topic and what research questions are most important. Such information will be useful as NIAAA seeks decisions on how to best interpret and harmonize US and international alcohol metrics and measurement to advance alcohol research worldwide.
This RFI asks respondents to provide comments on any or all the following areas of interest listed below and provide examples of how NIAAA research could address harmonization of alcohol metrics and measures.
- Specifically, what are the similarities and differences in the alcohol measurements, metrics and research designs in the U.S. and globally? For example, how do U.S. measurements of alcohol related mortality and morbidity and alcohol consumption differ from those used by other countries and organizations?
- How well do the current commonly used research designs, metrics, and measures support international comparison?
- What are the barriers for comparing US and international research studies related to metrics and measurement of alcohol use and how these can be resolved?
- What harmonization efforts exist currently? We want to explore systems used internationally, e.g., systems used by the World Health Organization (WHO) and others to explore possible expansion, improvement, and harmonization of systems used in the US and other countries to further facilitate international comparisons.
- What are research questions to be addressed to improve harmonization?
For more information, please the the opportunity notice.