The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington has released a study raising concerns about a significant rise in heavy drinking and binge drinking habit in women in many parts of the country.

The researchers said that certain counties in the Pittsburgh area have been witnessing an alarming rise about binge drinking. Joe Cvitkovic, a psychologist and the director of behavioral health care at Jefferson Hospital-Allegheny Health Network, shared that the problem is more in college-age women and young professionals. Some college women are having alcohol in high amount and this habit of them can be attributed to their male counterparts.

Researchers affirmed that some of them do it out of boredom and others think that they need to adopt this habit in order to keep up with their peers. Female professionals could face increased exposure to alcohol at social events or while traveling.

Greenbriar Treatment Center said that they are seeing more women with heavy drinking and more addicted opiates. Beth E. Neveux, drug and alcohol program supervisor for Butler County said that she is not surprised to know the study findings, as they have been witnessing a rise in the number of females being charged with DUIs.

The research published in the American Journal of Public Health is the first one to underline the drinking trends on a county-by-county basis around the country. As per researchers, they, “found that increases in heavy and binge drinking prevalence in recent years have tended to be larger for women than for men, although women have not yet caught up to men in terms of current prevalence”.