Alcohol abuse and binge drinking growing problem for elderly, warn GPs

Catherine Shanahan

Because of their age, older patients with alcohol problems are prone to a wide range of damaging consequences both physical and psychological, as well as falls and accidents, according to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP).

Rolande Anderson, Director of the ICGP 'Helping Patients with Alcohol' programme, said because of their reliance on medications, older people are also at greater risk of adverse reactions when medicines and alcohol interact.

"This is an area of great concern for older people given a pervasive ignorance regarding alcohol and drug interactions," he said.

"Around 80% of people aged 65 years and over regularly take prescribed medicines. Research in the United States indicates that alcohol-medication interactions account for as much as 25% of all emergency room admissions."

Speaking at the launch of guidelines to assist GPs in treating elderly patients with alcohol problems, Mr Anderson said research has indicated that alcohol consumption among older people in Ireland is both at a worryingly high level and is increasing.

Mr Anderson said older patients do not tend to attract as much attention as young drinkers because their alcohol use is likely to be more secretive and the effects less sensationalised than on the young.

Their problems were "exacerbated in the absence of adequate social support networks that may have been depleted by bereavement of friends and relatives and migration of families", he said.

He said doctors sometimes missed the signs of alcohol abuse because its symptoms "mimic other illness", including dementia and depressive symptoms. Drinking also has a negative impact on the finances of the elderly, he said.

Mr Anderson said the usually accepted health risks for the general population in any one week consumption of more than 7 pints for women and 10 for men were less acceptable for the elderly.

"Clearly the message should be 'even less' in all these categories for older patients," he said.

Recent research has reported that 11.5% of those aged between 64 and 74 years and 4.8% of those aged 75 years and over, who were admitted to psychiatric hospitals in 2000, suffered from alcoholic disorders. Mr Anderson said there was "an over-representation of binge drinkers among those aged 70 to 84 years".

Mr Anderson said nursing home GPs should be aware of possible alcohol problems among residents when they visit nursing homes.

"Families often hide alcohol from staff or 'slip a drink' to patients. In some instances patients can be returned from leave in an intoxicated state."

For further information contact the Irish College of General Practitioners at 01-676 3705 or the National Council on Ageing and Older People at 01-676 6484.