Dataset Information

Prevalence of simultaneous use of alcohol and prescription medication in older adults: findings from a cross-sectional survey (Health Survey for England 2013).

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To investigate the concurrent use of 'at-risk' (AR) drinking (>10 units of alcohol per week) and prescription medications, while controlling for sociodemographic, and health-related factors, among older adults (aged 65-89 years). DESIGN:Cross-sectional survey. SETTING:Data from Health Survey of England, 2013. INTERVENTIONS:None. PARTICIPANTS:General population survey of 2169 adults aged 65-89 years. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES:AR drinking (>10 units per week). Secondary outcome was AR drinking defined as >14 units of alcohol per week limit (the cut-off used by the Department of Health for AT drinking). RESULTS:Twenty-seven per cent (n=568) of the sample were AR drinkers. Factors associated with alcohol consumption were gender, age, social class, marital status, rurality of dwelling, deprivation index, self-reported general health, cigarette smoking, body mass index, exercise level, health and well-being scores' and number of prescription drugs. Logistic regression analysis showed that males were more likely to be AR drinkers (OR 3.44, 95%?CI 2.59 to 4.57, p<0.0001) than females. Each year increase in age, lowered the probability of AR drinking by a factor of 0.95 (95% CI 0.93 to 0.98, p<0.0001). Using prescription drugs reduced AR drinking by a factor of 0.92 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.93, p=0.033), after controlling for age, sex and rurality of dwelling. No other predictors were significant. Similar results were obtained for AR drinking of >14units per week. CONCLUSION:AR drinking is more likely in older men than women. The odds of AR drinking lessens, as individuals age, and using prescription drugs also reduces AR drinking.

SUBMITTER: Foster J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6609060 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Prevalence of simultaneous use of alcohol and prescription medication in older adults: findings from a cross-sectional survey (Health Survey for England 2013).

Foster John J Patel Swatee S

BMJ open 20190628 6

<h4>Objectives</h4>To investigate the concurrent use of 'at-risk' (AR) drinking (>10 units of alcohol per week) and prescription medications, while controlling for sociodemographic, and health-related factors, among older adults (aged 65-89 years).<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional survey.<h4>Setting</h4>Data from Health Survey of England, 2013.<h4>Interventions</h4>None.<h4>Participants</h4>General population survey of 2169 adults aged 65-89 years.<h4>Primary outcome measures</h4>AR drinking (>10 u ...[more]

PMID: 31256017

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Project description:The objectives of this study were to investigate older adults' knowledge of prescription drug safety and interactions with alcohol, and to identify pharmacists' willingness to disseminate prescription drug safety information to older adults.The convenience sample consisted of 48 older adults aged 54-89 years who were recruited from a local pharmacy and who completed surveys addressing their alcohol consumption, understanding of alcohol and prescription drug interactions, and willingness to change habits regarding alcohol consumption and prescription drugs. To address pharmacist willingness, 90 pharmacists from local pharmacies volunteered and answered questions regarding their willingness to convey prescription drug safety information to older adults.Older adults reported low knowledge of alcohol and prescription drug safety, with women tending to be slightly more knowledgeable. More importantly, those who drank in the previous few months were less willing to talk to family and friends about how alcohol can have harmful interactions with prescription drugs, or to be an advocate for safe alcohol and prescription drug use than those who had not had a drink recently. Pharmacists reported that they were willing to convey prescription drug safety information to older adults via a variety of formats, including displaying or distributing a flyer, and directly administering a brief intervention.In this study, older adults were found to have inadequate knowledge of prescription drug safety and interactions with alcohol, but pharmacists who regularly come in contact with older adults indicated that they were ready and willing to talk to older adults about prescription drug safety. Future research should focus on interventions whereby pharmacists disseminate prescription drug safety information to older adults in order to improve healthy prescription drug and alcohol behavior and reduce medical and health costs associated with interactions between alcohol and prescription drugs.

Project description:ObjectivePrevious prevalence estimates of POtentially Serious Alcohol-Medication INteractions in Older adults (POSAMINO) are based on in-home inventories of medications; however, this method is associated with under-reporting of medications when compared with dispensing records. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of POSAMINO among community-dwelling older adults using drug dispensing data from the community pharmacy setting.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingIrish Community Pharmacy.Participants1599 consecutive older adults presenting with a prescription to 1 of 120 community pharmacies nationwide; community-dwelling, aged ≥65 years, able to speak and understand English, with no evidence of cognitive impairment. The mean age of sample was 75.5 years (SD 6.5); 55% (n=884) female.Measures38 POSAMINO criteria were identified using participants' pharmacy dispensing records linked to self-reported alcohol consumption (beverage-specific quantity and frequency measures) over the last 12 months.ResultsThe overall prevalence of POSAMINO in the study population was 28%, with 10% at risk of at least one POSAMINO criteria and 18% at risk of two or more. Exposure to POSAMINO most commonly involved cardiovascular agents (19%) and central nervous system agents (15%). Exposure to a higher number of POSAMINO criteria was associated with younger age (adjusted incident rate ratio (AIRR): 0.97; 95% CI: 0.95 to 0.98), male sex (AIRR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.67) and a higher number of comorbidities (AIRR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.13).ConclusionThis study adds to the growing body of evidence, which suggests that older adults are vulnerable to potentially serious alcohol-medication interactions, particularly those involving cardiovascular and central nervous system agents, increasing their risk of orthostatic hypotension, gastrointestinal bleeds and increased sedation. Application of the POSAMINO criteria at the point of prescribing may facilitate the risk stratification of older adults and prioritise alcohol screening and brief alcohol interventions in those at greatest risk of harm.

Dataset Information

Prevalence of simultaneous use of alcohol and prescription medication in older adults: findings from a cross-sectional survey (Health Survey for England 2013).

Publications

Prevalence of simultaneous use of alcohol and prescription medication in older adults: findings from a cross-sectional survey (Health Survey for England 2013).

Similar Datasets

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