Exploring Risky Drinking and Knowledge of Safe Drinking Guidelines in Older Adults

Abstract

Applying multiple risky drinking criteria indicated that 6.6% to 31.7% of women and 21.6% to 44.8% of men were risky drinkers. Men were more likely than women to have inaccurate knowledge of the NHMRC guidelines, and nearly 59.2% of men who exceeded 14 drinks per week reported either not knowing the recommended limits or reported limits that exceeded the guidelines. Conclusions/Importance: A substantial number of older men drank at risky levels and overestimated safe drinking limits. Greater education on the vulnerability to alcohol-related harm together with greater screening practice by health professionals and service providers is recommended. Findings illustrate how different risky drinking criteria vary in their average AUDIT-C scores, with the NHMRC criteria showing greater average scores compared to other criteria. RESULTS also imply that cutoff scores of ≥ 4 for women and ≥ 6 for men are consistent with a range of risky drinking criteria in older adults.

A Qualitative Study of Service Provision for Alcohol Related Health Issues in Mid to Later Life

“…However the people who we spoke to were skeptical about recommended guidelines for alcohol and rarely measured consumption in units. This is consistent with the literature that older people are one of the least well informed groups about alcohol units both in the UK[ 30 ] and Australia[ 31 ]. People, in this sample, were also dismissive of the value of health education in line with the lack of evidence regarding effectiveness of such campaigns[ 30 , 32 ].…”

Alcohol, ageing and Australia

“…In addition, accurately assessing the prevalence of risky levels of consumption among older people presents a challenge, as there exists significant international divergence on what constitutes low‐risk drinking for older people [19,20]. Such variability in defining low risk may be explained by the myriad of complex and often competing risks and benefits associated with both the short‐ and long‐term use of alcohol [21].…”

A systematic review of self-report measures used in epidemiological studies to assess alcohol consumption among older adults

“…In addition, whether a risk definition for older adults should include questions about both health condition and use of medications should be considered. Several authors have recommended that a risk definition for older adults should account for both current health status and use of medication [ 23 , 37 , 142 ].…”

“…There is a lack of standardization regarding how to assess and categorize alcohol intake in older adults. The absence of standardized definitions of different drinking patterns makes it difficult to compare findings between studies [ 23 ]. In addition, there is no international standard for the number of grams of alcohol in one drink or unit of alcohol [ 24 – 26 ].…”

“…However, these recommendations are not internationalized. Because a high proportion of older adults have several chronic health conditions and use medication that may interact negatively in combined use with alcohol, it has been recommended that definitions of risk related to alcohol consumption in older adults include information regarding both current health status and use of medication [ 23 , 37 ]. Due to the greater sensitivity to health risk of alcohol among older adults, the prevalence of binge drinking in older age is of interest [ 38 , 39 ].…”