Alternatively, some elders can have problems with any use of alcohol. Drinking can interact with chronic health problems and medications, making some elders vulnerable to avoidable health problems. Tolerance for alcohol can be reduced by the physiological aging processes and by health conditions common to old age. Therefore, clinicians, service providers and elders themselves need to assess use levels and be aware of health implications of even low amounts of alcohol. Nonetheless, even moderate alcohol use is associated with a number of adverse health effects in this population, ranging from greater risk for harmful drug interactions to injury to depression.
Some older adults suffer consequences from any alcohol use.
Evidence is emerging that problem drinking in late life affects a larger proportion of the elderly population than previously thought. Healthcare settings are good locations for screening and identifying older people who are drinking at risky levels. Elders are more likely than younger adults to seek healthcare, which may afford a golden opportunity to provide advice, referral and monitoring. Brief advice by healthcare providers to cut down or stop drinking has been shown to work effectively with older individuals who drink above recommended limits. Michael Fleming and Kirsten Barry of the University of Wisconsin recently completed a successful trial of such intervention to reduce risky drinking with older adults in primary care settings.