One in Three Elderly Drinkers Face High Risk of Harm, Study Finds
One-third of drinkers over age 60 consume excessive amounts of alcohol, are at risk of dangerous interactions between alcohol and medications, or have illnesses that can be made worse by drinking, according to researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
A study of 3,308 clinic patients in California found that 34.7% of drinkers were considered high-risk, with more than half falling into at least two of the three risk categories. Patients ages 60-64 were twice as likely to be at-risk drinkers than those over age 80, and risk was also higher among drinkers who were more affluent and less educated.
The findings were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
U.S. drivers got behind the wheel after drinking too much about 112 million times in 2010.
Whenever anyone drives drunk, they put everyone on the road in danger. Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.
Though episodes of drinking and driving have gone down by 30% during the past 5 years, it remains a serious problem. Alcohol-impaired drivers are involved in about 1 in 3 crash deaths, resulting in nearly 11,000 deaths in 2009.
Certain groups are more likely to drink and drive than others.
Men were responsible for 4 in 5 episodes (81%) of drinking and driving in 2010.
Young men ages 21-34 made up only 11% of the U.S. population in 2010, yet were responsible for 32% of all instances of drinking and driving.
85% of drinking and driving episodes were reported by people who also reported binge drinking. Binge drinking means 5 or more drinks for men or 4 or more drinks for women during a short period of time.
Some likely alcohol effects on driving
Adapted from The ABCs of BAC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2005, and How to Control Your Drinking, WR Miller and RF Munoz, University of New Mexico, 1982.
Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)*
Typical Effects
Predictable Effects on Driving
.02%
Some loss of judgment
Relaxation
Slight body warmth
Altered mood
Decline in visual functions (rapid tracking of a moving target)
Decline in ability to perform two tasks at the same time (divided attention)
.05%
Exaggerated behavior
May have loss of small-muscle control (e.g., focusing your eyes)
Impaired judgment
Usually good feeling
Lowered alertness
Release of inhibition
Reduced coordination
Reduced ability to track moving objects
Difficulty steering
Reduced response to emergency driving situations
.08%
Muscle coordination becomes poor (e.g., balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing)
Harder to detect danger
Judgment, self-control, reasoning, and memory are impaired
Concentration
Short-term memory loss
Speed control
Reduced information processing capability (e.g., signal detection, visual search)
Impaired perception
.10%
Clear deterioration of reaction time and control
Slurred speech, poor coordination, and slowed thinking
Reduced ability to maintain lane position and brake appropriately
.15%
Far less muscle control than normal
Vomiting may occur (unless this level is reached slowly or a person has developed a tolerance for alcohol)
Major loss of balance
Substantial impairment in vehicle control, attention to driving task, and in necessary visual and auditory information processing
*Information in this table shows the BAC level at which the effect usually is first observed, and has been gathered from a variety of sources including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the American Medical Association, the National Commission Against Drunk Driving, and webMD.
Some doctors say drinks that combine alcohol with caffeine should be banned because they’re dangerous, ABC News reported Oct. 20.
Marketed in large, colorful cans under names like Four Loko, Joose, and Torque, the drinks are popular among college students. The 23.5-ounce canned drinks can contain 12 percent alcohol and 156 milligrams of caffeine, and have encountered increasing criticism. Attorneys general in more than one state are concerned that they’re being marketed to minors, a New Jersey college banned them, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is deciding whether or not the drinks are legal.
Dr. Robert McNamara, who directs the emergency medicine department at Temple University, recently encountered his first-ever case of a healthy 19-year-old whose heart attack seemed to be linked to consuming alcoholic energy drinks. “This is a dangerous product from what we’ve seen,” McNamara said, who said other doctors had told him about similar cases. “It doesn’t have to be chronic use. I think it could happen to somebody on a first time use.”
“I’m mad as hell,” said Doctor Mary Claire O’Brien of Wake Forest University. “These drinks are not safe.”
O’Brien, who is a professor of emergency medicine and public health, recently completed a study that showed that consuming alcohol with caffeine was more harmful than drinking alcohol alone. Those who consumed both were at least two times as likely — compared to those drinking alcohol without caffeine — to be hurt, need medical attention, take sexual advantage of another, or accept a ride with someone who was inebriated.
“They can’t tell that they’re drunk,” O’Brien explained. “What this behavior gets is a wide awake drunk.”
The FDA has said that, under regulations governing food additives, caffeine can’t be mixed with alcohol. It is currently evaluating whether the drinks should remain legal, but no deadline has been set for a decision.
“FDA intends to evaluate the information submitted by the manufacturers and other available scientific evidence as soon as possible in order to determine whether caffeine can be safely and lawfully added to alcoholic beverages,” said Michael Herndon, a spokesman for the FDA.
Phusion Projects, which manufactures Four Loko, told ABC News, “No one is more upset than we are when our products are abused or used unlawfully. But Four Loko is neither the sole contributor to alcohol abuse, nor will additional restrictions on it solve the problem.”
What are the harms associated with drinking to intoxication?
Drinking to intoxication can put you into situations that might be dangerous, embarrassing, or which you may later regret. Every time you drink, you are at risk of causing harm to yourself or others. Risky and/or high risk drinking can result in both short and long-term harms, including:
Short-term harms
The risks associated with short-term harm can include immediate health and social problems, such as:
injuries from violence (as a perpetrator, a victim, or a witness);
pedestrian and road accidents (death/severe injury);
drowning;
trauma related admissions to hospital emergency departments;
alcohol poisoning;
social and personal consequences such as the impact on families and social embarrassment;
loss of valuable items ie phone or wallet; and
having unprotected sex and placing yourself at greater risk of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and/or an unwanted pregnancy.
Long-term harms
Risky and high risk drinking during early adulthood may also have serious longer-term consequences, including:
social problems, such as spending more time drinking than pursuing other interests;
brain damage, including the inability to learn and remember things;
depression and suicidal thoughts;
the development of chronic disease, including some cancers and heart disease;
cirrhosis of the liver; and
dependence on alcohol.
Levels of risk
The 2009 Australian Alcohol Guidelines (AAGs) provide a framework for categorising low risk, risky and high risk drinking for both short and long-term harm.
The level of risk associated with drinking both in the short term and the long term depends on a variety of factors. But generally:
Low risk levels define a level of drinking at which there is a minimal risk of harm.
Risky levels are those at which the risk of harm is significantly increased beyond any possible benefits.
High risk drinking levels are those at which there is substantial risk of serious harm, and above which risk continues to increase rapidly.
Guidelines at a glance
For healthy men & women:
Drinking no more than 2 standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury.
Drinking no more than 4 standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury (arising from that occasion).
