THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALCOHOL SYMPTOMS AND CONSUMPTION AMONG OLDERDRINKERS

The present study assessed the relationship between current alcohol sy mptoms and consumption levels in a heterogeneous sample of older adult s. The sample consisted of 443 participants over age 55 who reported d rinking within the past year, including social drinkers, alcoholics in treatment, and alcoholics not in treatment. Symptoms for the past yea r were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS-III-R) al cohol section, and subjects were subsequently assigned to two groups ( symptom-free and symptomatic), depending on whether they experienced a ny DSM-III-R alcohol symptoms in the last year. For both men and women , average daily consumption and the frequency of heavy drinking contri buted to whether participants had experienced any alcohol symptoms. Th e results indicate that the consumption levels of men and women differ ed only for symptomatic drinkers. The findings support recommendations that consumption limits for older adults should be lower than those r ecommended in the literature for younger adults. Furthermore, the resu lts suggest that, in addition to limiting average daily consumption to no more than one drink per day, eliminating episodes of heavy drinkin g (consuming five or more drinks) could further reduce the risk of alc ohol-related symptoms for older adults.