| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| The relationship between alcohol problems and health functioning of older adults in primary care settings | | Author(s) | Frederic C Blow, Maureen A Walton, Kristen Lawton Barry |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 48, no 7, July 2000 |
| Pages | pp 769-774 |
| Keywords | Alcoholism ; Health [elderly] ; Mental health [elderly] ; Screening ; General practice ; Preventative medicine ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | 8578 older Americans (aged 55-97) with regular appointments in primary health clinics were screened, and categorised based on their alcohol consumption. 61% of participants were abstainers, 31% were low-risk drinkers, and 7% were at-risk drinkers. ANCOVAs (analyses of covariance) found significant effects of drinking status on general health, physical functioning, physical role functioning, bodily pain, vitality, mental health, emotional role, and social functioning (controlling for age and gender), with low-risk drinkers scoring significantly better than abstainers. At-risk drinkers had significantly poorer mental health functioning than low-risk drinkers. Few significant gender differences were found on Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) scales. Older people who are at-risk drinkers may not present with poor physical health functioning. Future studies are needed to determine the relationship between drinking limits for older people and other areas of physical and psychosocial health. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000824222 A |
| Classmark | ETA: CC: D: 3V: L5: LK2: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|