What level of alcohol consumption is hazardous for older people? Functioning and mortality in U.S. and English national cohorts.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate disability plus mortality risks in older people according to level of alcohol intake.


METHODS
Two population-based cohort studies.


METHODS
The Health and Retirement Study (United States) and the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (England).


METHODS
Thirteen thousand three hundred thirty-three individuals aged 65 and older followed for 4 to 5 years.


METHODS
Difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), poor cognitive function, and mortality.


RESULTS
One-tenth (10.8%) of U.S. men, 28.6% of English men, 2.9% of U.S. women, and 10.3% of English women drank more than the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommended limit for people aged 65 and older. Odds ratios (ORs) of disability, or disability plus mortality, in subjects drinking an average of more than one to two drinks per day were similar to ORs in subjects drinking an average of more than none to one drink per day. For example, those drinking more than one to two drinks per day at baseline had an OR of 1.0 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.8-1.2) for ADL problems, 0.7 (95% CI=0.6-1.0) for IADL problems, and 0.8 (95% CI=0.6-1.1) for poor cognitive function. Findings were robust across alternative models. The shape of the relationship between alcohol consumption and risk of disability was similar in men and women.


CONCLUSIONS
Functioning and mortality outcomes in older people with alcohol intakes above U.S. recommended levels for the old but within recommendations for younger adults are not poor. More empirical evidence of net benefit is needed to support screening and intervention efforts in community-living older people with no specific contraindications who drink more than one to two drinks per day.
Lang
Iain
I
Epidemiology and Public Health Group, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, UK. david.melzer@pms.ac.uk
Guralnik
Jack
J
Wallace
Robert B
RB
Melzer
David
D
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology