title: At-risk drinking and outpatient healthcare expenditures in older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare 12-month outpatient healthcare expenditures of at-risk and not-at-risk drinkers aged 60 and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analysis of data from Project Senior Health and Alcohol Risk Education, a cluster, randomized trial to test the efficacy of an intervention to reduce at-risk drinking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven primary care clinics in or near Santa Barbara, California.
  
  
  METHODS
  Current drinkers aged 60 and older who completed a baseline survey (N = 2,779) and did not receive the study intervention, including 628 at-risk drinkers and 2,151 not-at-risk drinkers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comparisons of at-risk and not-at-risk drinkers for baseline demographic characteristics, health indicators, alcohol consumption, and adjusted and unadjusted outpatient healthcare expenditures incurred over 12 months after baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At-risk drinkers were younger, more often male, and more likely to be married and had higher education and incomes than not-at-risk drinkers. Unadjusted 12-month mean outpatient healthcare expenditures were $1,333 ± 2,973 for at-risk drinkers and $1,417 ± 2,952 for the not-at-risk drinkers. There were no statistically significant differences in expenditures between groups before and after controlling for sociodemographic and health characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this short-term study, no adjusted differences in healthcare expenditures were observed between at-risk and not-at-risk older drinkers. Future study is warranted to determine the role of at-risk drinking in long-term healthcare expenditures in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Tingjian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Haiyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ettner
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Alison A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000191:economics*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: alcohol use; at-risk drinking; healthcare expenditures