It turns out that alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence do not affect only men, with a new study showing that white and Hispanic women born in the U.S. after World War II seem to have more problems than previously thought related to alcohol.

“This is particularly disturbing because women with alcohol problems face more severe health-related consequences and possibly more years of life lost than their male counterparts,” the study said.

Dr. Richard A. Grucza, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and colleagues analyzed the results of two national surveys on alcohol use: the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES), conducted in 1991 and 1992; and the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), conducted in 2001 and 2002.

The researchers found that, for women born after World War II, there are lower levels of abstaining from alcohol and higher levels of alcohol dependence but there was no significant tendency for more recently born men to have lower levels of abstention or higher levels of alcohol dependence.

Dr. Shelly F. Greenfield, associate clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program at McLean Hospital, said the increase in women’s alcohol problems is related to the fact that, after the World War II, drinking alcohol became more socially acceptable for women.

“This is an excellent study that adds important information to the accumulating evidence that the gender gap between women and men in the prevalence of alcohol dependence is narrowing. As it was socially more acceptable for women to drink, a greater number of them became drinkers,” Dr. Greenfield said.

The analysis appeared in May edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.