aging and risky drinking

'Successful Aging' Linked to Risky Drinking

Nancy A. Melville July 27, 2015

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"Successful agers" older than 50 years in the United Kingdom show an increased risk of harmful drinking compared with those in lower socioeconomic classes, new research shows.

"We can sketch ― at the risk of much simplification ― the problem of harmful alcohol 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," wrote the authors, led by José Iparraguirre, chief economist with the Department of Research at Age UK, in London.

The study was published online July 23 in the BMJ.