title: Drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm amongst older adults: analysis of existing UK datasets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Older adults experience age-related physiological changes that increase sensitivity and decrease tolerance to alcohol and there are a number of age-related harms such as falls, social isolation and elder abuse, which are compounded by alcohol misuse. Despite this unique vulnerability and the fact that the number of older adults is increasing, the literature on drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm in older adults is sparse. This article describes a secondary analysis of UK data to address this knowledge gap.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analysis of national statistics on alcohol-related hospital admissions and alcohol-related deaths, and data on drinking behaviour from the General Lifestyle Survey. Trends were identified by calculating percentage changes between time periods. The association between drinking behaviour and selected age groups was investigated using one way analysis of variance or chi-square tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older adults (aged 65 and over) drink less and are less likely to exceed the recommended drink limits than younger adults. However, they are more likely to be admitted to hospital for an alcohol-related condition than younger adults and the most significant increases in alcohol-related hospital admission rates in recent years have occurred in older age groups. Alcohol-related death rates are highest amongst those aged 55-74 years old. Alcohol consumption and the prevalence of exceeding the recommended drink limits has fluctuated but not significantly increased in older adults in recent decades.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older adults experience high and increasing levels of alcohol-related harm and as the population ages, this is likely to put increasing pressure on health and social services. Careful monitoring and age-appropriate strategies to detect and treat older adults at risk of alcohol-related harm are required.
authors.affiliation: Substance Misuse and Ageing Research Team, Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care, University of Bedfordshire, Park Square, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 3NJ, UK. sarah.wadd@beds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wadd
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D012015:Reference Standards; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology