The use of medication and alcohol among the Spanish population

Abstract

The 1993 Spanish National Health Survey data were used to estimate how frequently both medication and alcohol were used among 21084 people over 16 years of age. A total of 47.1% of the population, especially women and an increasingly older section, had taken some kind of medication during the previous fortnight. A total of 9.8% of the population took medication and alcohol together. This was more frequently observed among men than among women, and especially so among the older age groups. These data reveal that concomitant alcohol and medication use is frequent among the Spanish population, and suggest a need to devote much more attention to this potential problem.

Concurrent use of alcohol interactive medications and alcohol in older adults: a systematic review of prevalence and associated adverse outcomes

“…Ten of the included studies were conducted in Europe [14, 19, 21–23, 25, 27–29, 36], eight in North America [18, 20, 24, 30–32, 34, 35] and two in Australia [26, 33]. (Table 1) All studies were cross-sectional [14, 18–36].…”

“…Reference source not reportedBeverage specific quantity-frequency, last 12 months: None, 1–7 units/week, >7 units /week1unit = 11-12 g of alcoholBreslow 2015 [20]US, general population≥ 20 years≥65 years N  = 7183≥20 years N  = 26,65751% menNRCross sectional (Interviews in-home, medication containers)Use of AI prescription medication, past month; identified using (i) Drugs.com, (ii) Caremark.com, (iii) Healthline.com, (iv) DailyMed databases & (v) references from 3 publications [12, 43, 44] including: cardiovascular agents, CNS agents, coagulation modifiers, GI, metabolic, psychotherapeutic & respiratory agentsQuantity – frequency in last 12 months: None, for women of all ages & men >65 years: moderate consumption: >0–7 drinks/week & heavier drinkers (> 7 drinks/week). For men 20–64 years moderate: >0–14 drinks/week & heavier >14drinks/weekCousins 2013 [21]Ireland, community dwelling older adults ≥60 years N  = 381546.6% males69.7 (±7.3 years)Range: 60–99 yearsCross sectional (Nurse led interviews in-home; medications reviewed & self-completed questionnaire)Current or regular use of medications with potential to interact with alcohol identified using Stockley’s Drug Interactions, British National Formulary and Irish Medicines Formulary: cardiovascular agents, CNS agents, antihistamines, blood agents, antidiabetic agents, anti-infectives, GI drugs, immunomodulators & muscle relaxantsQuantity-frequency, past 6 months: None,Light/moderate (≤ 4 drinks/day or 10 drinks/ week) and heavy drinkers (>4 drinks/day or 10 drinks/ week)1 drink = 10 g of alcoholDel Rio 1996 [23]Spain, community dwelling adults≥ 16 years≥66 years N  = 3003≥ 16 years N  = 21,08448% menNRCross sectional (survey with interview)Medication use, past 2 weeks. No reference source reportedBeverage specific quantity-frequency, past 2 weeksDel Rio 2002 [22]Spain, community dwelling adults≥ 16 years≥66 years = 1025≥16 years N  = 639648% menNRCross sectional (survey with interview)Benzodiazepine use, past 2 weeksBeverage specific quantity-frequency past 2 weeks: Low (men: ≤ 21 units/week, women: ≤ 14 units/week), moderate (men: 22–50 units/week, women: 15–35 units/week) & high consumption (men: >50 units/week & women: >35 units/week)1 unit = 10 g of alcoholDu 2008 [14]Germany, community dwelling older adults N  = 160545.2% menNRRange: 60–79 yearsCross sectional (survey & interview; prescriptions or original containers)Any psychotropic medication use in past 7 days: ATC nervous system drugs coded N00.…”

“…Nine studies reported on a wide range of prescription and/or over the counter (OTC) medicines with potential to interact with alcohol [18–21, 24, 27, 29–31] . Three studies investigated any medication use during the recall period [23, 33, 35], and a further eight focused on psychotropic medications [14, 22, 25, 26, 28, 32, 34, 36]. Of the eight studies focusing on psychotropic medications, five investigated psychotropic medications alone [22, 25, 26, 34, 36] and three studies also included analgesics [14, 28, 32].…”

“…Ten studies were considered to have moderate external validity; five studies sampled random community dwelling older adults but with age restrictions which may have introduced selection bias [14, 19, 25, 26, 31] such as including adults aged between 53 and 75 years [25] or only including adults ≥75 years [19]. A further five studies reported on random population samples of community dwelling adults with subgroup analysis of older adults, however they did not report oversampling of older adults [22, 23, 28, 33, 34]. The six remaining studies were considered to have poor external validity, as the risk of selection bias is considered to be high [18, 29, 30, 32, 35, 36].…”

Factors associated with alcohol consumption patterns in a Puerto Rican urban cohort

“…The relationship between gender and heavy drinking should be further explored, as it is expected that the disparity between men’s and women’s drinking rates will decrease in the coming years (42) . Changing societal roles and attitudes towards women may influence drinking patterns and change the drinking culture as a whole.…”