Alcohol consumption and self-rated health among older people: population-based study in Sweden

Abstract

Objective: To analyse alcohol consumption and its association with self-rated health among a representative sample of older people in mid-Sweden.

Background: Over the past decades, alcohol consumption has increased in the older population in Sweden, but few studies have investigated the association between alcohol consumption and self-rated health in this group. The aim was therefore to investigate alcohol consumption and self-rated health among older Swedes.

Methods: The study is based on a cross-sectional study of 11,716 men and women, 65 years and over, answering a survey questionnaire sent to a random population sample in mid-Sweden in 2012. We assessed alcohol consumption with AUDIT-C and its association with self-rated health using logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, economic situation, educational level, BMI, physical activity, social support and medication use.

Results: Men (83%) were more prone to drink alcohol compared to women (71%). The prevalence of risk drinking was about 2% for both genders. Alcohol consumption declined with age. Moderate consumption of alcohol was associated with lower probability of poor self-rated health compared to non-drinking with an adjusted odds ratio 0.64 (95% confidence interval: 0.54-0.76) for men and 0.68 (0.59-0.79) for women.

Conclusion: Since the study was cross-sectional the direction of the association could not be determined, and the results should not be interpreted as an argument for promoting alcohol consumption among older people.

Keywords: alcohol consumption; older people; population studies; self-rated health.