When the Elderly Drink Too Much

Posted by Jacob Goldstein
Nearly one in 10 people over 65 drinks too much, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests.
The rate of excess drinking is especially high for elderly men — 16% — partly because the threshold for unhealthy drinking declines for men as they age. Younger men can safely have an average of two drinks a day, according to federal guidelines. But averaging more than a single drink per day is considered unhealthy for both men and women over 65. More than three drinks in a single day is also considered excessive for those over 65.
The findings, based on a survey of more than 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries, are “a call for health-care providers and … elders themselves to realize this is not an uncommon issue,” said Elizabeth L. Merrick, a Brandeis substance abuse researcher who was the study’s lead author. “Health-care providers often miss some of the excessive drinking issues among older people,” she told the Health Blog.
Signs of excessive drinking in younger people might show at work, or might be noticed by a spouse, but the elderly typically don’t work and often live alone, Merrick said. What’s more, physical problems caused by drinking can be mistaken in the elderly for problems caused by aging.