National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

NIAAA Established The Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970 launched the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, authorizing NIAAA “to develop and conduct comprehensive health, education, training, research, and planning programs for the prevention and treatment” of alcohol-related problems. Called the “Hughes Act,” after its champion, Iowa Senator Harold E. Hughes, the legislation...

Welcome to NIAAA for Middle School Underage drinking is a significant public health problem in the United States. This webpage contains interactive activities to help parents, caregivers, and teachers introduce and reinforce key messages about peer pressure, resistance skills, and other important topics related to underage drinking. These engaging activities are designed for middle schoolers ages 11 to 13. They...

Friday, March 10, 2023, 11:00 am EST to Friday, March 10, 2023, 12:00 pm EST

In this webinar, Ivana Grakalic, PhD will provide an overview of important findings from epidemiological and neuroscience research on harmful drinking among women and girls, including findings from major multi-agency initiatives such as the Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN) Initiative, the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies ® (BRAIN) Initiative, and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD)...

Takeaways You can maximize patient choice and outcomes by offering a full menu of evidence-based treatment options. Approaches for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) include behavioral health treatments, FDA-approved AUD medications, and mutual support groups, or a combination of any of these. Behavioral health treatments for AUD can bring lasting positive change. Steer patients in need of referral for behavioral...

The period after high school is a transitional time. Many young adults have greater freedom and independence, and they take on more responsibility as they enter the next chapter of their lives. During this time, young adults may have an increased vulnerability for alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder. Below are strategies for addressing alcohol misuse among young adults. Individual-level...

Everything you eat and drink while you are pregnant affects your baby. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby’s growth. Your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.

Everything you eat and drink while you are pregnant affects your baby. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby’s growth. Your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every family across the country and will likely have a long-lasting impact on public health and well-being. Alcohol misuse is already a public health concern in the United States, with dramatic increases in emergency department visits and alcohol-related deaths observed in recent years. Alcohol has the potential to further complicate the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple ways.

Mike Hilton, Ph.D. Reissuance of PA-18-390, PA-18-391, and PA-18-413 Purpose The purpose of this announcement is to replace a series of recently expired Program Announcements in order to communicate the broad scope of research topics of interest to the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Advancing knowledge about the epidemiology of...

The period after high school is a transitional time. Many young adults have greater freedom and independence, and they take on more responsibility as they enter the next chapter of their lives. During this time, young adults may have an increased vulnerability for alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder. Healthcare professionals play an important role in addressing alcohol misuse in...

Supporting research to inform the development and implementation of alcohol policies and to evaluate their effectiveness has been an important priority of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for many years. Alcohol policy represents a broad approach for intervening with alcohol misuse and related problems that can affect all individuals within a jurisdiction. Alcohol policy strategies commonly...

Combining alcohol with certain medications, particularly those with sedative effects, can increase the risk of adverse events, including falls, driving accidents, and fatal overdoses.

President Nixon signed the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970 on December 31, 1970. This legislation was also known as the Hughes Act for Senator Harold Hughes, a person who was in recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) and championed the cause of AUD research. The Hughes Act authorized a comprehensive Federal program to...

What is the Core Resource on Alcohol? The Healthcare Professional’s Core Resource on Alcohol consists of 14 interconnected articles covering the basics of what every healthcare professional needs to know about alcohol. The “Core” was developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAAA is the lead federal agency...

Stigma refers to negative beliefs about individuals or groups based on characteristics that may set them apart from others, such as mental health conditions including alcohol use disorder (AUD).

If you or a loved one needs help with an alcohol problem, you have several options beyond in-person care. You can access professional telehealth care by phone or video chat. You can take self-guided online programs to reduce or quit drinking. And you can attend online mutual-support groups. You might put together a care plan that combines some or all...

Prevalence of Alcohol Use Prevalence of Past-Month Drinking According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 17.5 million young adults ages 18 to 25 (50.2% in this age group) reported that they drank alcohol in the past month. 1,2 This includes: 8.5 million males ages 18 to 25 (48.6% in this age group) 1,2 9.0 million...

NIAAA’s major initiatives seek to address alcohol-related issues across the lifespan. Our aim is to reduce the tremendous burden of illness resulting from the misuse of alcohol by: Preventing children and adolescents from beginning and continuing to drink alcohol Offering effective intervention for problem alcohol use at all ages To accomplish this, we support research in areas ranging from basic...

Research on Promising Medications (not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA]) to Treat Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) Varenicline (Chantix®) , a medication approved for smoking cessation, was found in a recent 200-patient clinical trial conducted by NIAAA’s Clinical Investigations Group (NCIG) to reduce alcohol consumption and craving among people who are alcohol-dependent. Varenicline may work by partially...

NEW! Posted on May 2, 2024 Surveillance Report #121 [ PDF ]: Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977–2022 (Slater, Megan E.; Alpert, Hillel R.) April 2024 Examines trends in apparent alcohol consumption in the United States. Findings are based on alcoholic beverage sales data, collected from the States or the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association...