A study released by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports US adults consumed more than 17 billion binge drinks in 2015, which is the equivalent to roughly 470 binge sessions per binge drinker.

Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks for men, or four or more drinks for women, in about two hours.

The study found that about one in six US adults binge drink an average of once a week and consume an average of seven drinks per binge.

Binge drinking was observed to be more common among younger adults age 18 to 34, however, more than half of the total binge drinks consumed over the study period were by adults aged 35 years and older.

“This study shows that binge drinkers are consuming a huge number of drinks per year, greatly increasing their chances of harming themselves and others.”

Binge drinking was also found to be more common in men than women, with four out of five binge drinks consumed by males. Those areas in the US where binge drinking was most common were Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Hawaii. The areas with the least binge drinking were Washington D.C., New Jersey, New York and Washington state.

CDC alcohol programme lead researcher and study co-author Robert Brewer said: “This study shows that binge drinkers are consuming a huge number of drinks per year, greatly increasing their chances of harming themselves and others.

“The findings also show the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to prevent binge drinking, focusing on reducing both the number of times people binge drink and the amount they drink when they binge.”

For the report, the researchers analysed data on self-reported binge drinking during the a 30 day period from CDC’s 2015 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Binge drinking is reported to be responsible for more than half of the 88,000 alcohol-attributable deaths every year in the US. It has also been proven to increase the risk of serious health problems, including cancer, liver failure and heart disease.

The CDC report was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.