Alcohol Use and Healthcare Utilization Among Midlife and Older Adults

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Objectives: Alcohol use in later life may pose health risks that are hidden by contemporaneous measures or slowly accumulating outcomes. We examined whether alcohol use predicts subsequent healthcare utilization among midlife and older adults. Methods: Using 2012–2022 Health and Retirement Study data, we estimated fixed-effects negative binomial models of within-person associations between alcohol use and hospitalizations and doctor visits. Contemporaneous and 2-year lagged alcohol measures were evaluated, and interactions with chronic disease burden were tested. Results: Contemporaneous models consistently showed fewer hospitalizations among drinkers. Lagged models showed a less protective and, for hospitalizations, more adverse pattern two years later. For doctor visits, lagged main effects were less consistent. Prior drinking predicted greater subsequent utilization as chronic conditions increased. Discussion: Findings suggest that recent drinking history may reveal risks not apparent from current drinking alone and may be especially important among older adults with multimorbidity.

This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit: