title: Hazardous drinking in people aged 50 years or older: a cross-sectional picture of Europe, 2011-2013.
abstract: To assess gender and age differences in hazardous drinking and to analyse and compare the factors associated with it in men versus women, and in 50 to 64-year-old versus ≥65-year-old people in Europe.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional study with data from 65,955 people aged ≥50 years from 18 countries (SHARE project, 2011-2013). The outcome variable, hazardous drinking, was calculated using an adaptation of the AUDIT-C test. Several individual (sociodemographic, life-style and health factors) and contextual variables (country socioeconomic indicators and alcohol policies) were analysed. The prevalence of hazardous drinking was estimated by each exposure variable. To estimate associations, multilevel Poisson regression models with robust variance were fit, yielding prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
  
  
  
  Overall, the prevalence of hazardous drinking was 21.5% (95%CI = 21.1-22.0), with substantial differences between countries. The proportion of hazardous drinking was higher in men than in women [26.3%(95%CI = 25.6-27.1); 17.5%(95%CI = 17.0-18.0), respectively], as well as in middle-aged people than in older people [23.6%(95%CI = 23.0-24.3); 19.2%(95%CI = 18.6-19.8), respectively]. At the individual level, associations were found for migrant background, marital status, educational level, tobacco smoking, depression and self-perceived health. At the contextual level, hazardous drinking was associated with gender inequalities in society (only in women) and alcohol advertising regulations (both genders).
  
  
  
  One in five people aged ≥50 years in the countries studied is a hazardous drinker, with large differences by countries, gender and age group. Interventions and policies aimed at preventing or reducing alcohol use in this population should account for country, gender and age differences, as well as individual characteristics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.|Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8830-8880
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosque-Prous
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: M Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Brugal
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Postgraduate Public Health Program (PPGSCol-UFRN), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kenio C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.|Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.|CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Villalbí
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Montse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartroli
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.|CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.|Departament de Psicobiologia i Metodologia en Ciències de la Salut, Facultat de Psicologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8625-4356
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Espelt
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution
keywords: Europe; alcohol; elderly; middle-aged