How people drink is as important as how much they drink. Drinking patterns describe three important areas:

• the characteristics of individuals who choose to drink—e.g., age, gender, health status, and experience with alcohol;
• the settings in which drinking occurs, including both the physical environment around drinkers and the drinking cultures that surround them;
• the behaviors that may accompany or be associated with drinking—e.g., whether drinking is heavy or light, drinking with meals, drinking and driving, and drinking during leisure time.

There is a strong relationship between certain patterns of drinking and particular outcomes for health.  Health outcomes can be chronic (long-term) and acute (short-term).

A range of positive health outcomes is related to moderate patterns of drinking.

• For some people, moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to confer a protective effect against some types of coronary heart disease (CHD), type 2 diabetes mellitus, and osteoporosis (in postmenopausal women). Other positive effects include improved cognitive function (especially among older people) and reduced risk of dementia.
• Moderate drinking has also been correlated with a reduction in overall mortality across populations, as compared to abstinence and heavy drinking.

Negative outcomes of drinking are strongly related to abusive and excessive patterns of consumption.

• Acute negative outcomes include accidents and injuries, such as those resulting from automobile or boating accidents and injuries sustained in the workplace.
• Analyses of emergency room data have suggested that the severity of injuries sustained may depend on drinking patterns—heavier drinking is likely to result in more severe injury.
• Chronic health effects of abusive alcohol consumption include certain types of cardiovascular problems, liver cirrhosis, neurological damage and dementia, and birth defects.

Drinking patterns are also related to a range of social outcomes.

• Positive social outcomes of alcohol consumption include sociability and improvements in quality of life.
• Negative outcomes of heavy and abusive drinking patterns include road traffic crashes, aggression among some individuals, problems in the workplace, absenteeism and low performance, and problems in interpersonal relationships.
• There is evidence that earning potential of individuals is associated to drinking patterns—individuals whose drinking is moderate and integrated into a healthy lifestyle are likely to earn more than abstainers and heavy drinkers.

A focus on drinking patterns provides a sound basis for prevention and alcohol policy development.

• Policies that address drinking patterns allow individuals at particular risk for harm to be identified. This makes it possible to develop prevention and intervention approaches that are specifically tailored to different needs.
• The drinking patterns approach takes into account the role of alcohol in different societies, allowing the development of culturally appropriate approaches to policy.
• A focus on patterns allows balanced policy approaches that encourage responsible drinking patterns and discourage irresponsible and harmful ones.