Binge drinking may double mortality risk in older adults

Binge drinking could double your risk of mortality - even if you drink moderately the rest of the time, a new study on older adults has claimed.
Numerous studies have highlighted the purported association between moderate drinking and reduced mortality.
However, these analyses focused overwhelmingly on average consumption, a measure that masks diverse, underlying drinking patterns such as weekend heavy episodic or binge drinking.
The new research found that older adults who engage in binge drinking have more than two times higher odds of 20-year mortality in comparison to regular moderate drinkers.
"Binge drinking is increasingly being recognised as a significant public health concern," said Charles J Holahan, a professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin as well as corresponding author for the study.

"Ours is one of the first studies to focus explicitly on an older population in examining binge drinking among, on average, moderate drinkers," said Holahan.

Researchers used data from a larger project examining late-life patterns of alcohol consumption and drinking problems.
The sample comprised of 446 adults (334 men, 112 women) aged 55 to 65: 74 moderate drinkers who engaged in episodic heavy drinking, and 372 regular moderate drinkers.
The findings highlight the importance of focusing on drinking patterns, as well as absolute amounts of ethanol consumed, as predictors of health and mortality outcomes among older adults.
"We found that among older adults, those who engage in heavy episodic drinking - even when average consumption is moderate - show significantly increased total mortality risk compared to regular moderate drinkers," said Holahan.

Researchers said these findings may pose special health concerns for these older adults, even though binge drinking is damaging at any age.
"Binge drinking concentrates alcohol's toxicity and is linked to mortality by damaging body organs and increasing accident risk," said Holahan.
"Binge drinking may be additionally risky for older adults due to aging-related elevations in comorbidities as well as medication use," said Holahan.
Timothy Naimi, a physician and alcohol researcher at Boston Medical Center at Boston University said while it is less common among those who are older than among youth and younger adults, it may carry as much or more risk on a per-person basis as older individuals have less physiologic reserves, for example.

The study appears in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.