Wu, Yuxuan;
Evans, Eloise;
Boniface, Sadie;
Britton, Annie;
(2024)
Do older adults drink alcohol whilst taking alcohol-interactive medication? Prevalence and ten-year mortality risk: findings from the UK Whitehall II cohort study.
Addiction Research & Theory
10.1080/16066359.2024.2380835.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Britton_Do older adults drink alcohol whilst taking alcohol-interactive medication Prevalence and ten-year mortality risk findings from the UK Whitehall II .pdf Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: Older people commonly take prescribed medications, some of which are contra-indicated with alcohol. Few population-based studies have assessed the relationship between taking these medicines, different levels of alcohol use, and potential harm. Aims: To investigate the prevalence of taking alcohol-interactive (AI) medication and alcohol consumption among older adults and to compare the ten-year mortality risk among different categories of drinkers. Methods: Data were obtained from 6220 participants (mean age 70, 71% male) within the UK Whitehall II cohort study of civil servants from phase 11 (2012–2013) who were followed up for mortality over ten years. Alcohol use was based on volume of consumption in self-reported drinks per week, and hazardous pattern of consumption was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption (AUDIT-C). AI medications were coded from self-reported medication use. Deaths were obtained from the NHS central registry (2012–2022). Results: 55% of participants took AI medication and of these, 73% also consumed alcohol, and 43% drank hazardously. These participants were more likely to be male, older, and belong to lower socioeconomic groups. Among those taking AI medication, there was a significantly higher mortality hazard for ex-drinkers (HR =1.43 CI 1.14, 1.80) and nondrinkers (HR= 2.09 CI 1.33, 3.27) compared to moderate drinkers but no significant difference for higher risk/hazardous drinkers after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusion: In these older adults, there was a high prevalence of taking alcohol-interactive medication and drinking alcohol. Whilst there was no increased mortality risk other non-fatal outcomes should be considered.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Do older adults drink alcohol whilst taking alcohol-interactive medication? Prevalence and ten-year mortality risk: findings from the UK Whitehall II cohort study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/16066359.2024.2380835 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2024.2380835 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Alcohol use, alcohol-interactive (AI) medication, mortality risk, Whitehall II cohort study |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197061 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
