Researchers have warned that harmful drinking is more prevalent in people who are over 50s and fall in the category of ‘successful agers’ – people who are healthy, active, sociable, and well off – compared to their less successful peers.
According to a study published in journal BMJ Open, harmful drinking has been pegged as a “middle class phenomenon” and a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. The findings of the study are based on response from more than 9000 people in the two most recent waves (2008-9 and 2010-11) of the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA).
In a bid to find out the social and economic factors associated with harmful drinking, and changing patterns of consumption over time, researchers asked survey participants about a range of potentially influential factors: income; educational attainment; self reported health; whether they smoked; diet; physical activity levels; whether they felt lonely or depressed; ethnic background; marital status; caring responsibilities; religious beliefs; employment status; and social engagement (civic participation, networks of friends, cultural activities).
Analysis of the responses showed that the risk of harmful drinking peaked for men in their early 60s and then gradually tailed off, whereas for women risky drinking fell in tandem with age.
Researchers, using national guidance, defined increasing risk of harmful drinking at 22-50 weekly units for men and 15 to 35 weekly units for women; and higher risk, at more than 50 and more than 35 weekly units, respectively, for men and women.
Their analysis showed that the current group of over 50s may be carrying on levels of higher consumption developed in their younger years, in later life, say the researchers.
Income was associated with a higher risk, but only among women, while smoking, higher educational attainment, and good health were all linked to heightened risk in both sexes.
Higher risk of harmful drinking was not linked to feelings of loneliness or depression, but it was more likely among men living on their own, including those who were separated/divorced. And it was more common among men of white ethnicity.
Caring responsibilities lowered the probability of being at higher risk among women, but religious belief did not–for either sex.
Employment status did not seem to be a significant factor, but women who had retired were more likely to be at higher risk.
When the researchers looked at changes in alcohol consumption between the two waves of the survey, they found that among women, loneliness, younger age, and higher income were all associated with the likelihood of becoming a higher risk drinker by 2010-11. A healthy diet seemed to lessen the risk.
Among men, these transition patterns were similar, except that caring responsibilities, loneliness, older age and lower income increased the likelihood of no longer drinking at risky levels by wave 2 of the survey.
“We can sketch–at the risk of much simplification–the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over in England as a middle class phenomenon: people in better health, higher income, with higher educational attainment and socially more active are more likely to drink at harmful levels,” write the researchers.
“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process,” they add.
“Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people,” they warn, concluding: “Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
Hey, I have less than 50 “units” per week – so I’m good. I can define my own unit, since the article failed to do so. I will make my unit a quart of beer, when I have beer. And a liter of wine, when I have wine. Imagine I can still be healthy after all those units! Thanks for this information, Ravi!
Pretty confusing to read. A nice table, one for men and one for women, showing whether the different factors examined in this study correlate or not, would of have been very helpful.
This is actually a horrible misrepresentation of the data, and a completely erroneous miscasting of the conclusions to be drawn from it.
The study finds a positive correlation between drinking and success among men in their 50’s. “Harmful” is a value judgment.
Jeez, Louise, talk about bad journalism.
Thanks, I thought it was just me who couldn’t understand it.
How can you write an entire article about harmful drinking without defining the term? Says something about units. What’s a unit? Another waste of ink.