Trends in older adults’ alcohol use in Norway 1985–2019

Abstract

Aims: To examine the prevalence of and trends in older adults’ (60–79 years) alcohol use in Norway between 1985 and 2019. Methods: Data stem from two repeated cross-sectional surveys in the Norwegian population: Statistics Norway’s Health and Living Conditions Surveys from 1985 ( N = 7799), 1995 ( N = 3518) and 2005 ( N = 6487), and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s (NIPH) annual surveys on alcohol, tobacco and drug use from 2012/2013 ( N = 4047), 2014/2015 ( N = 4378), 2016/2017 ( N = 4264) and 2018/2019 ( N = 4330). The following measures were used to examine trends in alcohol use among women and men aged 60 and older: drinking status, drinking frequency, number of drinks per occasion, and frequency of heavy episodic drinking (HED). Results: Between 1985 and 2019, there has been a substantial increase in the proportions of older adults in Norway who drink alcohol and who drink relatively often. The increase was particularly marked between 1985 and 2012/2013, and for elderly women. However, the majority of older adults drink small amounts of alcohol on typical drinking occasions, illustrating that the increased frequency of drinking is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in risky drinking. Conclusions: There has been a marked increase in alcohol use among older adults the past 30 years, particularly among older women, suggesting that the age and gender gap traditionally found in alcohol use in Norway is diminishing. Due to the lower alcohol tolerance among elderly, monitoring the changing trends in alcohol use in this group, as well as the possible consequences of these changes, is important.

The changing alcohol drinking patterns among older adults show that women are closing the gender gap in more frequent drinking: the Tromsø study, 1994–2016

“…Although higher educational level has been found to be associated with more frequent drinking [ 13 , 15 ], our models that adjusted for this covariate did not significantly change the probability of reporting frequent drinking. Our finding of more frequent drinking among older adults stands in contrast to the observed decrease in total alcohol consumption in Norway since 2008 [ 16 , 38 ], suggesting a shift in alcohol consumption from younger to older regular drinkers.…”

“…This is well in line with other epidemiological findings across Europe [ 14 , 15 , 20 , 41 ], but the sex differences we found in frequent drinking in the latest survey are considerably smaller than observed in other European countries [ 13 , 17 , 21 ]. The findings are in accordance with recent population surveys from the Nordic countries [ 18 , 34 , 38 , 40 ]. General societal changes over the last decades, such as an increase in women’s rights, increased work participation for women and improvement of socioeconomic status relative to men’s, may partly explain the reduced sex differences in frequent drinking [ 17 , 19 ].…”

“…Our finding of only 7% men and 15% women reporting abstinence in 2015–16 is in contrast to the findings by Nuevo et al (2015) from 14 European countries, where an average of 55% abstainers was found among older adults over 60 years [ 13 ], the same prevalence as reported among US older adults [ 37 ]. It is, however, in line with epidemiologic studies from Norway and other Nordic countries with an observed prevalence of abstinence between 7 and 23%, depending on age group and sex [ 18 , 38 – 40 ].…”

“…All participants in our study live in a medium sized Norwegian city, whereas other studies have included older adults from both rural and urban areas. People living in urban areas drink more than those in rural areas [ 38 ], which can partly explain our findings. Although higher educational level has been found to be associated with more frequent drinking [ 13 , 15 ], our models that adjusted for this covariate did not significantly change the probability of reporting frequent drinking.…”

“…The total prevalence of 27% among female and 36% among male older adults who reported frequent drinking in 2015–16 is considerably higher than the prevalence of 14–16% among younger adults (aged 15–59) who report frequent drinking in Norway [ 38 ]. The increase in frequent drinking was also more extensive among women during the study period, which indicate that women’s drinking patterns are approaching those of men.…”