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Alcohol Use Disorder Is a Risk Factor for Mortality Among Older Public Housing Residents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

Betty Smith Black ,
Peter V. Rabins  and
Marsden H. McGuire
Betty Smith Black
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Peter V. Rabins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Marsden H. McGuire
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Abstract

Epidemiologic survey data were used to examine relationships between alcohol use and abuse and the physical and mental health status of elderly public housing residents (weighted n = 865) and to determine the influence that drinking behavior had on mortality. Residents with a current alcohol disorder (4%) were more likely to rate their physical health as fair/poor but had fewer major medical illnesses, functional impairments, and other current psychiatric disorders. Individuals with a current or past alcohol disorder (22%) were more likely than others to die (odds ratio [OR] = 7.5) during the 28-month follow-up period. In multivariate analyses, women with a past alcohol disorder were more likely than lifetime abstainers to die (OR = 21.9). Drinking behavior was not predictive of death in men. The high prevalence of alcohol disorder and its strong influence on mortality in this predominantly African-American female population demonstrate the need for programs designed to prevent and treat alcoholism in public housing developments for the elderly.

Type
Alcohol and Mortality
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 309 - 327
Copyright
© 1998 International Psychogeriatric Association

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