The Role of Medication Use and Health on the Decision to Quit Drinking Among Older Adults

Pringle, Kristine E.; Heller, Debra A.; Ahern, Frank M.; Gold, Carol; Brown, Theresa J.

doi:10.1177/0898264306293583

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Compared to individuals aged 18–34 years with liver disease, those in the older age groups were far more likely to assess their health as good, fair or poor. Thus, any impact of liver disease among older adults may have been subsumed under the effects of self‐perceived health, which also may have mediated the effects of some of the other specific diseases for which positive associations reported in earlier studies were not replicated in this analysis .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Studies of drinking trajectories from adolescence to early/mid‐adulthood have implicated socio‐demographic factors and other substance use in drinking changes, showing transitions out of heavy episodic drinking (HED) to be more common among women , non‐whites , non‐smokers and individuals who get and/or remain married , have college educations and with negative family histories of alcoholism or whose parents did not drink heavily . In contrast, studies of middle‐aged and elderly populations have more consistently implicated health problems as predictors of drinking reduction/cessation , although socio‐demographic factors , smoking , depression , religiosity and retirement have also demonstrated associations with decreased consumption. In prospective, population‐based studies of individuals with alcohol dependence or drinking problems, drinking reduction/cessation has been associated positively with non‐white race/ethnicity , presence of young children in the home , religiosity/spirituality , some types of alcohol treatment and severity of alcohol problems and associated negatively with male sex and income .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Prospective correlates of drinking cessation: variation across the life‐course

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims To assess age variation in correlates of drinking cessation. Design Prospective study of a U.S. general population sample. Setting Face-to-face household interviews. Participants Past-year ≥monthly drinkers interviewed at baseline and 3-year follow-up (n=14,885). Measurements Baseline values and selected changes over follow-up in alcohol consumption, alcohol use disorder (AUD), sociodemographic and health characteristics, other substance use and psychiatric comorbidity were used to predict drinking cessation in three age groups. Findings Correlates of drinking cessation varied over the life course, with pregnancy/presence of an infant, nicotine or drug use disorder, incident AUD, cluster A personality disorder, liver disease and incident retirement being important at younger ages and high-school graduation, family income ≥$70,000, volume of ethanol intake, Asian race/ethnicity, mood disorder and incident cardiovascular disease being significant at older ages. Age-invariant correlates included smoking cessation over follow-up, OR=2.82 (95% CI=1.62–4.92) to 3.45 (2.20–5.39); college education, OR=0.42 (0.27–0.65) to 0.54 (0.36–0.83); Black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, OR = 1.74 (1.18–2.29) to 1.88 (1.21–2.93) and 1.58 (1.11–1.25) to 1.73 (0.83–3.63), respectively, and months since last drink, OR=1.24 (1.13–1.36) to1.29 (1.19–1.39). Conclusions Factors associated with ceasing alcohol use in US adults appear to differ over the life course, reflecting age variation in both their prevalence and impact and supporting the importance of role transitions and health problems (the “sick quitter” effect). The most consistent correlates of drinking cessation included factors reflecting ability/inability to give up potentially addictive substances and factors associated with perceived acceptability of drinking and subgroup-specific drinking contexts that might facilitate/impede continued drinking.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospective correlates of drinking cessation: variation across the life‐course

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consistent with this, older adults identify interactions between alcohol and drugs as one reason to reduce their alcohol consumption [16]. However, many older adults concomitantly drink alcohol and take drugs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The prevalence of potential alcohol–drug interactions in older adults

Immonen

Valvanne

Pitkälä

2013

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the possibility of clinically significant drug–alcohol interactions among home-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 65 years.DesignThis study was a cross-sectional assessment of a stratified random sample of 2100 elderly people (≥ 65 years) in Espoo, Finland. The response rate was 71.6% from the community-dwelling sample. The drugs were coded according to their Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification index (ATC DDD 2012). Significant alcohol interactive (AI) drugs were examined according to the Swedish, Finnish, INteraction X-referencing (SFINX) interaction database, as well as concomitant use of central nervous system drugs, hypoglycaemics, and warfarin with alcohol. “At-risk alcohol users” were defined consuming > 7 drinks/week, or ≥ 5 drinks on a typical drinking day, or using ≥ 3 drinks several times/week, “moderate users” as consuming at least one drink/month, but less than 7 drinks/week, and “minimal/non-users” less than one drink/month.ResultsOf the total sample (n = 1395), 1142 respondents responded as using at least one drug. Of the drug users, 715 (62.6%) persons used alcohol. The mean number of medications was 4.2 (SD 2.5) among “at-risk users”, 4.0 (SD 2.6) among “moderate users”, and 5.4 (SD 3.4) among “minimal/non-users” (p < 0.001). The concomitant use of AI drugs was widespread. Among the “at-risk users”, “moderate users”, and “minimal/nonusers” 42.2%, 34.9%, and 52.7%, respectively, were on AI drugs (p < 0.001). One in 10 of “at-risk users” used warfarin, hypnotics/sedatives, or metformin.ConclusionsUse of AI drugs is common among older adults, and this increases the potential risks related to the use of alcohol.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, alcohol abstinence has been associated with increased frailty [51]. It has been suggested that older persons may abstain from alcohol in response to worsening health [31]. With respect to the role of cholesterol, previous studies have suggested that low cholesterol in later life may be viewed as a frailty marker [36,40,46], as opposed to midlife where high cholesterol is considered to be a risk factor for dementia [18,22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of classification models for early identification of persons at risk for persistent cognitive decline

Kommer¹,

Comijs

Dik

et al. 2008

J Neurol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Both models lead to a substantial increase of the predictive value for persistent cognitive decline, that is from 4.0 % to 43.5 % and 30.0 %, and may identify to a large extent a different subsample of persons who are at risk for persistent cognitive decline. The developed classification trees could be useful for case-finding of persons at risk for future persistent cognitive decline who are therefore at risk for dementia, in a feasible and cost-effective manner.

show abstract

The Role of Medication Use and Health on the Decision to Quit Drinking Among Older Adults

Abstract: These findings support the hypothesis that elderly quit drinking in response to ill health. Results have implications for alcohol interventions in older adults and underscore the importance of separating former drinkers from lifetime abstainers in the study of alcohol-health relationships.

Cited by 15 publications

References 18 publications

Prospective correlates of drinking cessation: variation across the life‐course

Prospective correlates of drinking cessation: variation across the life‐course

The prevalence of potential alcohol–drug interactions in older adults

Development of classification models for early identification of persons at risk for persistent cognitive decline

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About