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Drinking Increases Death Risk for Older Men with
Certain Diseases
Older women
drinkers had no increased death risks
April 10, 2006 - Older men who drink as few as two
drinks twice a week and also have diseases that could be worsened by
alcohol or cause problems with medications taken while drinking alcohol
have higher death rates, as compared to men who either drink less or may
drink more but don't have such comorbidities (two are more psychiatric
or physical illnesses).
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Health & Medicine |
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Examining data from a 197174 health survey and a
follow-up survey in 1992, the researchers found that older men who drank
moderately or heavily and had accompanying comorbidities that could be
worsened by alcohol use such as gout or ulcer disease, or who took
medications that could interact negatively with alcohol use, such as
sedatives or pain medications, had 20 percent higher mortality rates
than other drinkers.
The longitudinal study -- the first to examine in a
large population the mortality risks inherent in alcohol use and
comorbidity -- will be published in the May issue of the Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society.
Previous studies have found that moderate drinking
can reduce risks for vascular disease and death, said Dr. Alison Moore,
associate professor of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine
at UCLA, and the study's lead researcher.
"None of these studies have specifically looked at
the interaction of alcohol use and conditions or medications that may be
unsafe with even moderate amounts of alcohol use," she said.
"This study shows that while moderate alcohol use
may be fine for people who don't have other conditions that could be
worsened by the use of alcohol, such alcohol use may not be fine if you
take common medications for sleep, or for arthritis pain, or have
depression, or have some gastrointestinal condition."
The researchers analyzed data from the 197174
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (NHANES I) and the
1992 NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Survey.
Participants included 4,691 adults aged 60 and
older. Some 10 percent of the people from the first survey were at-risk
drinkers -- that is, they had more than two drinks a couple of times a
week and they also had selected comorbidities. Eighteen percent of men
and 5 percent of women were deemed at-risk drinkers.
● The researchers found that 2,673 people (1,379
men and 1,294 women) from the initial survey had died by the time of the
follow-up survey approximately 20 years later.
● Of those who abstained from drinking, 65
percent (76 percent of men and 60 percent of women) had died.
● Of the drinkers considered to be not-at-risk,
62 percent had died (68 percent of men, 56 percent of women).
● And, of the drinkers considered to be at-risk,
70 percent had died (77 percent of men, 49 percent of women).
● In analyses including men and women, at-risk
drinkers had a 12 percent increased risk for death and abstainers had an
8 percent increased risk for death as compared to not-at-risk drinkers.
● In analyses done separately for men and women,
men at-risk drinkers had a 20 percent increased risk of death as
compared to not-at-risk drinkers, while abstainers had no increase in
risk for death.
● Among women, neither at-risk drinkers nor
abstainers had increased risks for death compared to not-at-risk
drinkers.
One reason for the gender discrepancy may be that
women simply don't drink as much as men, Moore said. Only 89 women in
the sample were considered at-risk drinkers, versus 336 men.
"So it's possible we couldn't see any effect on
death rates for women, because there were too few at-risk drinking
women," she said.
The findings suggest that lower drinking thresholds
should be recommended for older adults with specific but common
comorbidities.
Other researchers in the study include Lisa Giuli
(who conducted this project while a second-year medical student); Drs.
Peifeng Hu, David Reuben, Gail Greendale and Arun Karlamangla; professor
Robert Gould; and Kefei Zhou.
The John A. Hartford Foundation/American Federation
for Aging Research Medical Student Geriatric Scholars Program, the Paul
B. Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars in Aging Program, the Mentored
Clinical Scientist Awards from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Aging and the National
Institute on Aging UCLA Older Americans Independence Center, and the
Resource Center for Minority Aging Research funded the study.
The research is available now online
click here.
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