Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has for the first time ever, released a report on the use of alcohol in the state of Illinois.

This report focused on a list of topics involving alcohol consumption such as the difference between teen use, adult use, male or female usage, the consumption rates of different sexual orientations, ethnicity, and even shows the statistics involving motor vehicle accidents.

Dr. Sameer Vohra, the Director for the IDPH, spoke on the WTAX Morning Newswatch about some of the data within the report, and gave some insight on the different consumption rates between teens, adults, men and women.

“Twenty-three percent of Illinois high schoolers reported consuming at least one alcoholic beverage in the last thirty days. More than eleven percent acknowledged binge drinking. We define binge drinking in public health as four or more drinks within a couple of hours,” said Vohra. “In adult alcohol use, the males reported more drinking in the past thirty days than women. It was sixty two percent of men and fifty percent of women. Twenty four percent of men were binge drinking and thirteen percent of women.”

Statistics within the report actually showed in youth consumption, a higher percentage of female youth claimed to have had at least one drink in the last thirty days compared to males.  The percentage of youth females who currently drink is twenty-eight-point four percent and youth males who currently drink shows seventeen-point seven percent. When it came to binge drinking, the report showed fifteen-point two percent of youth females and eight-point one percent of youth males.

The report even broke down those who are currently drinking, binge drinking, and heavily drinking to the county level.

Another topic from the interview that Vohra spoke about was motor vehicle incidents that were alcohol related, and the different percentages of the drivers who had less than the legal limit or more than the legal limit.

“Thirty percent of alcohol related traffic crashes, the driver had point zero one or less, but thirty two percent of car crashes had a driver with a point zero eight or higher, which is the legal limit for driving under the influence,” said Vohra.

The report showed when it came to drinking and driving, three percent of males acknowledged driving after consumption. For the females, the report showed the drinking and driving percentage to be one percent.

The full report is titled Alcohol Use in Illinois and is available to the public on the IDPH website.