Alcohol Abuse Effects and Alcohol Health Risks Among Elderly

Alcohol abuse can be defined as individuals drink more than normal quantity but on regular basis. This habits causes poor health to that person and pose danger to himself or others. Alcohol abusers are usually manage to set limits and measure himself to control over drinking habits. Most of the time, these person listen to family and friends who express concern and give suggestion to stop this alcohol abuse habit. In the more progress scale, alcohol abuse can lead to alcoholism or dependence of alcohol. In this case these person can not take control over the amount that they drinks. They can not stop using alcohol even though they knew there will be severe psychological and physical consequences of excessive drinking.

Among older person, abuse of alcohol can be viewed as invisible epidemic because researchers and health practitioners believe it is under-diagnosed. Alcohol abuse in older adults often is hidden and, consequently, overlooked. For example, many older adults drink in the privacy of their homes and are less likely to be disruptive in public or arrested for driving while intoxicated. Further, even when family, friends, and professionals recognize an alcohol problem exists, they are reluctant to confront an older person.

Aging and alcohol misuse produce similar deficits in intellectual and behavioral functioning. Alcohol abuse effects may accelerate normal aging or cause premature aging of the brain. In addition, older people who abuse of alcohol exhibit more brain tissue loss than younger subjects who abuse alcohol, often despite similar total lifetime alcohol consumption. These results suggest that aging may make a person more susceptible to alcohol health risks. The frontal lobes of the brain are especially vulnerable to long- term heavy drinking. Research shows that shrinkage of the frontal lobes increases with alcohol use and is associated with intellectual impairment in both older and younger subjects who abuse of alcohol. Also, older persons who abuse of alcohol are less likely to recover from cognitive deficits during abstinence than are younger persons with a drinking problem. Age-related changes in volume also occur in the cerebellum, a part of the brain involved in regulating posture and balance. Thus, long-term alcohol abuse effects can accelerate the development of age-related balance and posture problems, increasing the likelihood of falls.

Bellow are alcohol health risks amongst alcohol abuse on elderly:

— high blood pressure and increased risk of stroke.
— increased risk of cirrhosis of the liver.
— increased risk of cancer of the head, neck, or esophagus.
— increased risk of malnutrition.
— high risk of interactions with prescription drugs that the senior may be taking.
— increased risk of falls and fall-related injuries, particularly in women. Studies indicate that heavy drinking in older women increases the risk of osteoporosis.
— decline in cognitive function. Some researchers think that alcohol abuse increases a senior’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease, although further research is needed.

Many medical, emotional, and other problems are associated with both aging and alcohol abuse, but the extent to which these two factors may interact to contribute to certain diseases and disorders in unclear.

Bellow are some examples of alcohol-aging interactions which affect elderly:

The incidence of hip fractures in older persons increases with alcohol use. This increase is due to falls while intoxicated and a significant loss of bone density in older persons who are alcohol abusers

Consuming one or two alcoholic drinks per day for men and one per day for women may reduce the risk of heart disease, including persons 65 and older. However, because of age-related body changes in older men and women, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Aging (NIAAA) recommends people aged 65 and older consume no more than one drink per day.

Long-term alcohol use activates enzymes in the body that break down toxic substances, including alcohol. When activated, these enzymes can also break down some common prescription medicines, reducing their effectiveness. These include the anxiety and sleeping disorder drugs called benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium, Ativan, and Librium) and anti-seizure medications, including phenytoin (Dilantin), clonazepam (Klo- nopin), and carbamazepine (Tegretol). Alcohol health risks due to drug interactions are especially common among old people.

Injury and death due to alcohol-related traffic accidents are a significant among all age groups, including the elderly. A person’s crash risk per mile increases starting at age 55 and exceeds that of a young, beginning driver by age 80. Alcohol abuse increases the risk factors, especially since older drivers tend to be more seriously injured than younger drivers in crashes of equal magnitude.

Depressive disorders are more common in the elderly than among younger people and often coincide with alcohol abuse. Depressive disorders (unipolar depression) are mental illnesses characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in activities that were once pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment. Alcohol abusers who are older than 65 were found to be three times more likely to have a major depressive disorder than those who were not.