POTENTIAL FOR ADVERSE DRUG-ALCOHOL INTERACTIONS AMONG RETIREMENT COMMUNITY RESIDENTS

OBJECTIVES: Medications and alcohol are both used commonly by older pe ople. Thus, the potential for adverse drug-alcohol interactions is ver y high in this population, but data on actual concurrent use of alcoho l and medicines likely to interact with alcohol are lacking. The objec tives of this study were to determine the frequency of alcohol and med ication use and the potential for specific adverse drug-alcohol intera ctions in residents of retirement communities. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using a mailed survey. SETTING: Three retirement communities in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. PARTICIPANTS: All 454 independently li ving residents of the communities were surveyed. Of these, 311 residen ts (68%) returned completed questionnaires. Mean age of respondents wa s 83 +/- 6 years, 100% were white, 77% were female. MEASUREMENTS: The questionnaire included alcohol use questions adapted from the Khavari questionnaire and the CAGE questionnaire to screen for alcohol abuse. Respondents were asked to list all prescription and nonprescription me dications. RESULTS: Thirty-eight percent of the population reported us ing both alcohol and a high risk medication. Six percent had seven or more drinks per week and took a high risk medication. High risk drugs commonly used by drinkers were antihypertensives in 50%, aspirin in 27 %, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in 20%, medication for congest ive heart failure in 18%, antacids or H-2 blockers in 16%, sedatives i n 11%, narcotics in 5%, and warfarin in 5%. CONCLUSIONS: Concurrent us e of alcohol and medications is common in residents of these retiremen t communities. Many of the drugs taken by regular drinkers have potent ial for adverse drug-alcohol interactions even at moderate levels of a lcohol use. This represents a strong possibility of adverse outcomes a nd a need for increased awareness on the part of both the public and p hysicians of the potential for interactions between drugs and alcohol.