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Non-smokers often have visceral reactions if someone lights a cigarette nearby – the dangers of second-hand smoke are well established and it is usually obvious that you are in danger.
According to a study published June 30 in the Journal of Alcohol and Drug Studies, drug use, although not so obvious, could also be dangerous to your health, relationships and finances.
While smoking rates have dropped sharply in recent decades, reducing the risk of indirect exposure, the majority of Americans are still exposed to second-hand beverage consumption in their lifetime.
Read more: 7 times you should never drink alcohol
More than half of Americans are exposed to the harms of second-hand alcohol during their lifetime
If the people around you are drinking, you may end up experiencing harms such as property damage, threats, violence, relationship problems, or financial hardship. Some people seem to be more at risk than others.
The study included 8,750 adults in the United States, interviewed by telephone in a 2015 survey. The researchers asked participants whether they had suffered harm from a person who drank, such as harassment, assault, financial hardship or vandalism in the past year.
The researchers estimated that, for the entire US population, the consumption of alcoholic beverages of origin affects about one in five Americans each year.
According to Ms. Katherine Karriker Jaffe, co-author of the study and scientist in the alcohol research group, about 53% of people who consumed alcohol during their lifetime would suffer damage.
According to the study, heavy drinkers of both sexes are particularly exposed to the negative effects associated with the consumption of alcohol by someone else. This risk was particularly important for driving incidents: heavy drinkers were 12 times more likely to have been in an accident or impaired car than the rest of the population.
The majority of the victims did not necessarily drink themselves during the incidents. But the study found that a general trend towards high alcohol consumption – 4 drinks a day or more for women, 5 drinks or more for men, at least once a month in the past year – significantly increased the risk of harmful consumption of others, too.
The research also revealed clear differences between the problems faced by men and women with regard to alcohol consumption.
Although women are more likely to suffer physical harm, harassment or financial harm from a spouse, partner or an ex-alcoholic heavy drinker men are more likely to report harm due to alcohol consumption by a stranger.
This risk is even greater for women who drink a lot themselves: they were 7 times more likely to be physically assaulted than women who did not drink.
Dr. Karriker Jaffe stated that this does not mean that the victims are to blame in these incidents. "We do not know the mechanics of that, it might suggest that women are more likely to be targeted when they are perceived as drunk," she told INSIDER.
Research also shows that if a person drinks a lot, their spouse or partner may also develop an alcohol problem.
The disparity between the sexes was even greater when the victim shared a house with a heavy drinker; over 92% of women living with a heavy drinker reported being physically injured, compared to 28% of men.
Unlike previous research, this study found no correlation between poverty and alcohol-related harm. Dr. Karriker Jaffe said this area may require further research, as well as studies on specific contexts of excessive alcohol consumption. She also hopes to study the impact of the damage on the quality of life, as research suggests that alcohol consumption is more detrimental to a loved one, rather than a stranger or co-worker.
"This information should inspire us to think about solutions, to develop effective alcohol policies to reduce alcohol consumption and thereby reduce the harmful effects of alcohol consumption," said the Minister. Dr. Karriker Jaffe.
Read more:
9 signs that you drink too much, even if you do not think
6 dangerous things that can happen to your body when you drink too much
It turns out that excessive drinking could actually change our genes
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