Success And Ageing Linked To Harmful Alcohol Consumption

A new study on risk of harmful drinking shows that education and smoking can increase the risk in people aged over 50 years.

Over 9,000 participants in England participated in the study which set out to determine socioeconomic factors influencing harmful alcohol consumption. The study found that smoking and education were positively associated with the risk. Divorced and separated men had a higher risk. So did younger men who had unhealthy diet during the study.

"We can sketch-at the risk of much simplification-the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over in England as a middle class phenomenon: people in better health, higher income, with higher educational attainment and socially more active, are more likely to drink at harmful level," researchers said in a press release.

The study showed differences in risks for the sexes. Retirement and income were positively associated with higher risk only for women. A woman's risk was lowered if she had caring responsibilities, according to the study published in BMJ Open journal.

"Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm," researchers concluded.