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Local trend: According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adult binge drinking is most common in the Midwest, New England, the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii. | FILE PHOTO

More than 38 million U.S. adults binge drink an average of four times a month and the most drinks they consume on average is eight according to a new Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While binge drinking is more common among young adults ages 18 to 34, of those age 65 and older who report binge drinking, they do so more often — an average of five to six times a month.

Adult binge drinking is most common in the Midwest, New England, the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii, the report said. However, binge drinkers consume more drinks in the southern part of the Mountain states (Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah), the Midwest, and some states where binge drinking is less common — including Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Binge drinking is more common among those with household incomes of $75,000 or more, but the largest number of drinks consumed per occasion is significantly higher among binge drinkers with household incomes of less than $25,000 — an average of eight to nine drinks, the report said.

Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes more than 80,000 deaths in the United States each year, making it the third leading preventable cause of death, and was responsible for more than $223.5 billion in economic costs in 2006. Over half of these deaths result from injuries that disproportionately involve young people.

“Binge drinking causes a wide range of health, social and economic problems and this report confirms the problem is really widespread,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “We need to work together to implement proven measures to reduce binge drinking at national, state and community levels.”

CDC scientists analyzed data on self–reports of binge drinking within the past 30 days for about 458,000 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. The data were in the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The data used in this study included about 36,000 cell phone respondents.

For more information about binge drinking and how to prevent it, click here.