WHILE most people slow down physically as they get older it seems their drinking habits are still in top gear and keeping pace with younger drinkers.
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Research presented yesterday at a health professionals conference revealed that more than one-in-five older Australians consumes alcohol at hazardous levels equivalent to younger people — but with more serious health consequences. Melbourne University researcher Kim-Michelle Gilson studied 421 people aged over 60 and found 23 per cent were drinking at hazardous levels, with seven per cent of men over 60 binge-drinking weekly to cope with stress and anxiety.
The number of older adults with a substance use disorder is likely to double by 2020, compromising their quality of life, burdening the health system, and challenging healthcare professionals to be proactive in identifying and managing hidden risky drinking problems.
Ms Gilson called for national guidelines and lower alcohol limits for over-60s and warned that older people should be drinking no more than one drink a day or no more than seven a week.
Director of Warrnambool-based drug and alcohol agency WRAD, Geoff Soma, agreed that higher alcohol consumption was associated with higher health risks.
However, he doubted if guidelines would be very effective as a counter-measure.
“People who abuse alcohol never adhere to guidelines anyway,” he told The Standard.
“There is no doubt the more people drink over a long timespan has an impact on their major organs.
“It also affects their family and domestic situations and they may end up before the courts.”
Mr Soma said while WRAD statistics showed only a small percentage of clients were older than 65, anecdotally the south-west did have older people with high alcohol consumption.
“Usually people wait until they are faced with either family, financial or court pressures before they seek WRAD help,” he said.
Another researcher, Dr Adrienne Withall from the University of NSW, found about 20 per cent of over 65-year-olds presenting to aged-care services had an alcohol or other substance use problem.