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High-risk alcohol consumption and late-life alcohol use problems
Rudolf H Moos1, Penny L Brennan, Kathleen K Schutte
1Center for Health Care Evaluation (152-MPD), VA Health Care System, 795 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. rmoos@stanford.edu
Objectives:
We used several different guidelines for appropriate alcohol use to identify patterns of high-risk alcohol consumption among older women and men and examined associations between these patterns and late-life alcohol use problems.
Methods:
A sample of 1291 older adults participated in a survey of alcohol consumption and alcohol use problems and was studied again 10 years later.
Results:
Depending on the guideline, 23% to 50% of women and 29% to 45% of men engaged in potentially unsafe alcohol use patterns. The likelihood of risky alcohol use declined over the 10 years; however, the numbers of drinks consumed per week and per day were associated with alcohol use problems at both assessment intervals.
Conclusion:
Our findings imply that guidelines for alcohol consumption should be no more liberal for older men than for older women.