Treatment of older women with alcohol problems: Meeting the challenge for a special population

As a larger proportion of the U.S. population reaches late life, there are new challenges to providing quality health care services for this group. Re cord numbers of adults over 60 are seeking health care for acute and chroni c conditions. Older women represent the largest single group of health care users in this country. Twelve percent of older women regularly drink in ex cess of recommended guidelines (no more than one drink per day or seven dri nks per week) and can be considered at-risk drinkers. Problems related to a lcohol use and misuse can seriously affect many of the health concerns comm on among older women, including chronic illnesses and depression. Older wom en have specific risks and vulnerabilities to alcohol use, which include a swifter progression to alcohol-related illness. However, women in later lif e who have alcohol problems are underscreened and underdiagnosed, have sign ificant barriers in accessing health care, and respond differentially to st andard specialized treatment protocols. To date, research on these topics h as been limited. Furthermore, there is a paucity of research focused on tre atment outcomes for elderly adults with alcohol problems, with almost no em phasis on women. This paper presents the state of knowledge about alcohol h ealth services for older women and provides recommendations for necessary f uture health services research on this vulnerable population.