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Examining the Association Between Alcohol Consumption and Health Conditions in Community Dwelling Older Adults

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Abstract

The Canadian low-risk drinking guidelines were developed for adults, however, the applicability to older adults was not considered in the development of the guidelines. The objectives of this study were to: (1) to examine alcohol use in community dwelling older males and females using the current Canadian guidelines; (2) to test lower limits of alcohol use on various health factors; and (3) to determine health factors associated with high-risk drinking in older males and females. Data on community dwelling older adults (aged 65 +) was used from the Canadian Injury Prevention Survey (n = 2274). Descriptive statistics and comparative analysis were used to compare alcohol consumption categories. Logistic regressions were performed to examine the relationships between health factors and alcohol consumption categories. 70% of the sample reported having at least one drink per week; 4.5% of males and 6.8% of females were high-risk drinkers according to the current guidelines. There were no significant associations between the current alcohol categories with demographics, behavioral risk factors or health conditions. Using the new guidelines, 21% of males and females were classified as high-risk drinkers, respectively. Diabetes and having an illness or disability before retirement was protective of high-risk drinking in males while having diabetes and poorer physical health was protective of high-risk drinking in females. The prevalence of high-risk drinkers is dependent on what alcohol classifications are used. Further studies are needed to determine the causal relationships between health-related factors and alcohol using standardized definitions of alcohol consumption.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the University of Waterloo International Research and Partnership Grant (PI: Crizzle).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

    Sarah Laberge, Philip Bigelow & Alexander M. Crizzle

  2. Inserm, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Emmanuel Lagarde

  3. School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 2Z4, Canada

    Alexander M. Crizzle

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  1. Sarah Laberge
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  2. Philip Bigelow
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  4. Alexander M. Crizzle
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Correspondence to Alexander M. Crizzle.

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Laberge, S., Bigelow, P., Lagarde, E. et al. Examining the Association Between Alcohol Consumption and Health Conditions in Community Dwelling Older Adults. J Community Health 46, 51–63 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00842-8

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