TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tschorn, Mira
A1  - Schulze, Susanne
A1  - Förstner, Bernd Rainer
A1  - Holmberg, Christine
A1  - Spallek, Jacob
A1  - Heinz, Andreas
A1  - Rapp, Michael A.
T1  - Predictors and prevalence of hazardous alcohol use in middle-late to late adulthood in Europe
T2  - Aging & mental health
N2  - Objectives: 
Even low to moderate levels of alcohol consumption can have detrimental health consequences, especially in older adults (OA). Although many studies report an increase in the proportion of drinkers among OA, there are regional variations. Therefore, we examined alcohol consumption and the prevalence of hazardous alcohol use (HAU) among men and women aged 50+ years in four European regions and investigated predictors of HAU. 

Methods: 
We analyzed data of N = 35,042 participants of the European SHARE study. We investigated differences in alcohol consumption (units last week) according to gender, age and EU-region using ANOVAs. Furthermore, logistic regression models were used to examine the effect of income, education, marital status, history of a low-quality parent-child relationship and smoking on HAU, also stratified for gender and EU-region. HAU was operationalized as binge drinking or risky drinking (<12.5 units of 10 ml alcohol/week). 

Results: 
Overall, past week alcohol consumption was 5.0 units (+/- 7.8), prevalence of HAU was 25.4% within our sample of European adults aged 50+ years. Male gender, younger age and living in Western Europe were linked to both higher alcohol consumption and higher risks of HAU. Income, education, smoking, a low-quality parent-child relationship, living in Northern and especially Eastern Europe were positively associated with HAU. Stratified analyses revealed differences by region and gender. 

Conclusions: 
HAU was highly prevalent within this European sample of OA. Alcohol consumption and determinants of HAU differed between EU-regions, hinting to a necessity of risk-stratified population-level strategies to prevent HAU and subsequent alcohol use disorders.
KW  - Hazardous alcohol use
KW  - older adults
KW  - middle-aged adults
KW  - Europe
KW  - alcohol
KW  - drug and alcohol abuse
KW  - cross-national
KW  - international studies
KW  - environmental factors
KW  - housing
KW  - rural-urban factors
KW  - epidemiology (mental health)
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63921
SN  - 1360-7863
SN  - 1364-6915
VL  - 27
IS  - 5
SP  - 1001
EP  - 1010
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -