A recent study shows looked at the US county by county to determine drinking statistics for both men and women. The number women who drink heavily has risen dramatically.

Between 2005 and 2012, the percentage of men who engage in binge drinking rose by 4.9 percent; the percentage of women rose by 17.5 percent.

“In 2012, 8.2 percent of all Americans were considered heavy drinkers and 18.3 percent were binge drinkers,” said researchers in the study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

In particular, the rise in the number of women drinking more than their bodies can handle poses a potential public health threat. Not only could this lead to an increase in cancer and liver disease but also an increase in anxiety and depression. Already there is a visible increase in the number of women charged with DUIs.

“Women are drinking more like men, to put it bluntly,” said Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation offered some explanations for the recent trends.

“Three things explain it,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad. “Socioeconomic factors — people who are educated, people who have the means to enjoy a drink when they come home from work, will drink.” However, it is the widely held belief that people with lower levels of education are more likely to binge drink on regular occasions.

The second factor is availability. “If you have more outlets selling alcohol and you have more bars next to each other, people tend to go from one to another and have more drinks,” said Mokdad.

Finally, social norms play a large role. Many college-aged women and young professionals feel pressured to keep up with their friends, including their male counterparts. Some may not realize that they simply cannot do so.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines binge drinking as “when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks, in about 2 hours”.

Researchers concluded that this unprecedented rise in female alcohol consumption should lead to targeted messages that warn women of the dangers of drinking too much.

“We 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. These findings call for interventions intended specifically to address this increase among women.”