Booze warning for Baby Boomers

The ageing population has masked a worrying increase in the proportion of older Australians drinking too much, researchers say.

Researchers have warned of the drinking habits of older Australians. Picture: Getty

The ageing population has masked a worrying increase in the proportion of older Australians drinking too much alcohol, according to researchers.

In the Medical Journal of Australia today, researchers from the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction at Flinders University reveal that not only are there more older drinkers but more of them drinking to excess.

Government-funded surveys show that among people aged 50 years and over, the proportion with an alcohol intake deemed risky has fluctuated, from 13.4 per cent in 2004 to 13.5 per cent in 2016, while the high risk group has increased from 2.1 per cent to 3.1 per cent.

That is despite a long-term decline in alcohol abuse in Australia.

“This worrying increase in risky alcohol consumption by older people has not previously been recorded,” the researchers note.

“Specific characteristics of “Baby Boomers” (people born 1946-1964) may be important contributors to the changing pattern of consumption, which is in stark contrast to the significant decrease in risky drinking among people aged 12-24 during the same period.”

There has been an increase in the proportion of older people abstaining from alcohol but not to the same degree as younger groups. The researchers worry that older Australians who drink too much are at risk of falls and other injuries, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental health problems, obesity, liver disease, early onset dementia and other brain injuries.

“Primary health care is an ideal setting in which to detect and intervene in risky drinking, and routine screening for problematic alcohol use by older patients is warranted,” they conclude.

“To facilitate early identification of problem drinking and early intervention, educating health care professionals about patterns and drivers of alcohol consumption by older people should be a priority.”

The researchers suggest GPs engage in “short, opportunistic counselling and information sessions that motivate behavioural change”.

National guidelines recommend healthy men and women drink no more than two standard drinks on any day to reduce the lifetime risk of harm, and no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion to reduce the risk of alcohol-related injury.