Alcoholism and Older Adults

By Jill Gonzalez

Alcohol problems are largely underreported across all age groups, but adults over the age of 55 are probably the largest group to be underreported.

In a study conducted on adults aged 60 to 94 years of age, approximately 62% of them reported drinking alcohol on a regular (if not daily) basis, with 13% of them admitting to being heavy alcohol users. To put this into perspective, heavy drinking (as defined in this study) referred to the consumption of at least two alcoholic beverages per day.

The overuse of alcohol is one of the fastest rising problems in the United States today. For the most part, the abuse of alcohol by older adults not only goes unnoticed, but it also goes unreported. There are, of course, a variety of reasons for this. For one thing, most older adults live alone, or at least live away from their children and other family members. Another reason is that older adults are usually not questioned by anyone about drug or alcohol use.

Because of the various physiological changes that older adults go through, their bodies process alcohol differently than younger people. As adults age, they experience a gradual decrease in body water, a decrease in the efficiency of the metabolism of alcohol in the gastrointestinal tract, and decreased tolerance to alcohol.

Regular alcohol use (or abuse) in older adults can result in the following:
• Increased risk of physical injury.
• The initiation or worsening of medical conditions.
• A quicker decline in functionality that all aging adults experience.

It is also important to note that older adults generally take more prescription medications than younger people do. For older adults, taking prescription drugs usually becomes a normal part of their daily routines, whereas younger adults may only have to take prescription medications periodically.

Drinking alcohol in combination with certain prescription medications can cause some serious problems such as:
• Heart abnormalities
• Confusion
• Difficulty thinking
• Depression
• Increased daytime sleepiness
• Liver damage

Because alcohol consumption has adverse effects on all of the body’s organs, it is logical to conclude that excessive alcohol consumption in the elderly has even more devastating effects than for a younger adult. The elderly may also be predisposed to having balance or stability problems, as well as problems with osteoporosis. These problems are only compounded when combined with alcohol consumption.

When anyone consumes enough alcohol, he or she can lose balance easily and possibly fall, which may or may not result in injury. When this happens to older adults, they can fracture bones. Hip fractures are very common among the elderly, and often times, whether they are officially reported or not, these injuries are a result of consuming too much alcohol.

There are also a few different types of syndromes that can develop that result in impairment of brain function. These serious illnesses usually occur only in older adults who are alcoholics, and not in people who are only occasional drinkers.

It is important to emphasize that among older adults even moderate alcohol consumption can have devastating health consequences. For adults aged 55 and over, moderate drinking can dramatically increase the negative effects of hypertension, and it is also linked to the development of a variety of cancers.