Prevalence and characteristics of at‐risk drinkers among elderly acute medical in‐patients

Abstract

Three-hundred-and-twenty-seven male and 323 female medical and geriatric admissions over the age of 65 were interviewed about their drinking habits. Thirty (9%) of the men were found to drink in excess of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' recommended safety limits. The majority of these were lifelong heavy drinkers. Another 33 (10%) had previously drunk heavily over the age of 65, but had cut down, the majority spontaneously. Alcohol usage among women was less, although there was strong circumstantial evidence of heavy usage in a few. Twenty-five of the 30 men identified above as 'at risk' were interviewed in greater depth. These were compared with 25 age-matched light drinkers or non-drinkers. Forty-eight per cent of the men admitted to one or more alcohol related problem and if the admission diagnosis were included the number rose to 60%. The 'at risk' drinkers were significantly more likely to smoke, not to be married and to have some impairment of mobility.

Alcohol Use Disorders in French University Hospital Patients

“…Concerning the marital status, the drinkers at risk were significantly more likely to be single and less likely widowed. This has been noted in some studies [1,32].…”

Community prevalence of alcohol use and concomitant use of medication—a source of possible risk in the elderly aged 75 and older?

“…In the United States, it is recommended that people aged over 65 years should not have more than one drink per day (Dufour and Fuller, 1995). There are some studies which have investigated the prevalence of risky alcohol drinking by aged people in retirement communities (Adams, 1995b), emergency departments (Adams et al, 1992), primary care settings (Ilife et al, 1991;Adams et al, 1996;Blow et al, 2000) and hospitals (Bristow and Clare, 1992). However, studies at the community level are fairly scarce.…”

Substance misuse in elderly general hospital in‐patients

“…Epidemiological studies indicate that substance misuse may be a signi®cant predisposing factor to some of the major illnesses in this age group. The prevalence of alcohol misuse among older hospitalised patients ranges from 4.5%±7.8% (Bristow and Clare, 1992;Mangion et al, 1992). An accurate ®gure for the prevalence of smoking in the hospitalised elderly is not available.…”