Men in general are more likely than women to binge drink, but women with severe depression are more apt to drink heavily than depressed men, a new study says.

The Canadian Press reported Jan. 3 that the study involved phone interviews with more than 8,000 Canadian women between the ages of 18 and 76. Researchers did not find a relationship between low-level drinking and increased depression risk.

"This pattern of associations is more consistent with women using alcohol to counteract depression -- by high-quantity drinking and intoxication -- than with chronic alcohol consumption tending to make women depressed," said Sharon Wilsnack of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. "However, a vicious circle could possibly begin with drinking in response to depression."

Lead author Kathryn Graham said the findings offer some important lessons for counseling women with addiction and mental-health problems.

"If you're treating a person for depression, especially if it's a woman who's suffering from major depression, it would be a good idea to look at their drinking pattern - and especially looking at how much they drink per occasion," said Graham, a senior scientist at Canada's Center for Addiction and Mental Health. "I think men are more likely to be asked about their drinking than women are by physicians, so this would be a particular trigger to at least caution them (women) about not drinking too much per occasion."

The study appears in the January 2007 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.