Is alcohol consumption in older adults associated with poor self-rated health? Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Nicola Shelton¹  Cesar de Oliveira¹  Hynek Pikhart¹  Martin Frisher²  Clare Holdsworth³  Marina Mendonça³ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College, London, UK;School of Pharmacy, Keele University, ST5 5BG, Keele, Staffordshire, UK;School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University, ST5 5BG, Keele, Staffordshire, UK;

关键词: Alcohol;    Epidemiology;    Public Health;    Longitudinal;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1993-x

 received in 2014-11-10, accepted in 2015-06-30,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIncreases in alcohol related mortality and morbidity have been reported among older people in England over the last decade. There is, however, evidence that drinking is protective for some health conditions. The validity of this evidence has been questioned due to residual confounding and selection bias. The aim of this study is to clarify which drinking profiles and other demographic characteristics are associated with poor self-rated health among a community-based sample of older adults in England. The study also examines whether drinking designated as being “increasing-risk” or “higher-risk” is associated with poorer self-rated health.MethodThis study used data from Wave 0, Wave 1 and Wave 5 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing [ELSA]. Logistic regression analysis, was used to examine the association between drinking profiles (based on quantity and frequency of drinking) and self-rated health, adjusting for gender, age, wealth, social class, education, household composition, smoking and body mass index [BMI].ResultsTwenty percent of the sample reported drinking above the recommended level at wave 0. Rates of poor self-rated health were highest among those who had stopped drinking, followed by those who never drank. The rates of poor self-rated health among non-drinkers were significantly higher than the rates of poor self-rated health for any of the groups who reported alcohol consumption. In the adjusted logistic regression models there were no drinking profiles associated with significantly higher rates of poor self-rated health relative to occasional drinkers.ConclusionsAmong those who drank alcohol, there was no evidence that any pattern of current alcohol consumption was associated with poor self-rated health, even after adjustment for a wide range of variables. The results associated with the stopped drinking profile indicate improvement in self-rated health can be associated with changes in drinking behaviour. Although several limitations of the study are noted, policy makers may wish to consider how these findings should be translated into drinking guidelines for older adults.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Frisher et al. 2015