Introduction to the Special Issue of Alcohol and Alcoholism on Sex/Gender Differences in Responses to Alcohol

Abstract

This special issue provides new findings highlighting the influence of sex/gender on responses to alcohol, including both short- and long-term consequences across the lifespan. The Office of Research on Women's Health was established nearly 20 years ago within the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, to improve awareness of the need to represent women in NIH-sponsored research. ‘ORWH works in partnership with the NIH institutes and centers to ensure that women's health research is part of the scientific framework at NIH and throughout the scientific community’ (ORWH site, NIH.gov). There remains a global need to be aware of how one's sex or gender can impact health and disease. When bringing gender into the discussion, it is important to recognize that there are multiple perspectives—including societal and environmental contexts and influences versus innate biological contributions to what encompasses being a woman and female rather than a man and male. We have long been aware of the differences between men and women in drinking patterns and risk for harm from excessive alcohol consumption. It was more than 30 years ago that Ashley and coworkers first reported the telescoping phenomenon—where alcoholic women present with more severe pathophysiological consequences in a shorter timeframe than men (Ashley et al. , …