People who are middle-aged and successfully middle class face a high risk of developing harmful drinking habits, researchers warn today.
These people may be healthy, active, sociable and well off – but they also drink more than others of their age group, according to a study reported in BMJ Open.
The findings come from a study of 9,000 people over the age of 50 taking part in a long-term English study.
The researchers defined harmful drinking as more than 22 units a week by men and more than 15 units a week by women. The highest risk came when men were downing more than 50 units a week and women more than 35.
Among findings from the study, the researchers found that being lonely and depressed did not increase the risk of harmful drinking – but living alone did for men.
The researchers, led by Professor Jose Iparraguirre, of Age UK, London, write: “We can sketch—at the risk of much simplification—the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over in England as a middle class phenomenon: people in better health, higher income, with higher educational attainment and socially more active are more likely to drink at harmful levels.
“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a successful ageing process.
“Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people."
BMJ Open 24 July 2015 [abstract]
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