Women Face Unique Health Risks from Alcohol: Social Workers Are Key to Prevention
Breast cancer is the leading alcohol-related cancer among women in the U.S., with alcohol-related cancer representing more than 16% of breast cancer cases nationally. The risk of breast cancer increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. For women, even one drink per day may increase the risk of breast cancer by 10%, with the risk increasing to 32% for women who have more than two drinks per day. Alcohol use is also linked to six other cancers, including those of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and liver.
What’s more, women who drink face reproductive risks, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), a range of lifelong behavioral, intellectual, and physical disabilities that may affect up to 1 in 20 school children nationwide. Alcohol use during pregnancy can also increase the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm delivery, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
In honor of National Women’s Health Week (May 11–17), social workers can discuss these risks with clients. In these conversations, it’s important to share that there is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink. All types of alcohol can be harmful, including wine, beer, and liquor. If a client who is pregnant is using alcohol, the safest thing to do is to stop drinking. Every day matters.
Alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based tool for making conversations about alcohol part of routine care—and reducing clients’ harmful alcohol use. For tips on opening the conversation, social workers can use this SBIRT pocket card developed by the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work, NASW, the NASW Foundation, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This collaboration, known as the FASD National Partner Network, puts social workers at the center of prevention practice—along with colleagues in family medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, nursing, and medical assisting.
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Article by Diana Ling, MA, Senior Program Manager; and Anna Mangum, MSW, MPH, Senior Health Strategist; Health Behavior Research and Training Institute, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin.
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This initiative, Engaging Social Workers in Preventing Alcohol- and Other Substance-Exposed Pregnancies, is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a financial assistance award totaling $913,610 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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