Table 1:

Summary of drinking patterns and distribution of alcohol-related risk in Canada, 2009

Category based on drinking pattern	Definition (based on average per-year consumption)	% of survey respondents	Estimated no. of people	Adjusted OR of reporting ≥ 1 harm to self from one’s own drinking in the past year.
Abstainer	No alcohol use in lifetime	11.6	6 081 000	NA
Former drinker	No alcohol use in past 12 months	12.2
Current drinker	Consumed alcohol in the past 12 months	76.5	19 499 750	NA
Light infrequent drinker	Less than once per week and usually less than five drinks per occasion	36.1	9 227 000	1.0 (reference)
Light frequent drinker	Once or more per week and usually less than five drinks per occasion	31.3	8 018 000	2.18
Heavy infrequent drinker	Less than once per week and usually five or more drinks per occasion	3.7	940 750	4.37
Heavy frequent drinker	Once or more per week and usually five or more drinks per occasion	5.1	1 314 000	11.84

Note: NA = not applicable; OR = odds ratio.

Source: Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey,¹² with further analysis by Gerald Thomas.