Adams W L
Medical College of Wisconsin, Zablocki, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Milwaukee, USA.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 1996 Sep;44(9):1082-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1996.tb02943.x.
Anecdotal reports and two previous studies suggest that retirement communities have a particularly high prevalence of heavy drinking. The objective of this study was to verify or refute this finding and to identify characteristics associated with heavy drinking in retirement communities.
This cross-sectional study used a mailed survey to gather information from three retirement communities in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The questionnaire included alcohol use questions adapted from the Khavari questionnaire and the CAGE questionnaire to screen for alcohol abuse.
Three hundred seventeen of 454 independent residents of the retirement communities completed and returned surveys for a response rate of 70%. Mean age of respondents was 83 +/- 6 years, 100% were white, 77% were female. Forty-seven percent used some alcohol, 15% had one to six drinks per week, 8% had seven or more drinks per week. Only two people screened positive on the CAGE questionnaire for abusive drinking. The majority of drinkers had decreased alcohol use since moving to the community. Male sex, socialization, lack of religious affiliation, and smoking were factors whose percentages increased significantly with increasing alcohol use. Although drinkers were more likely to smoke cigarettes, no indicators suggested that they were less healthy than abstainers.
Despite the advanced age of this population, regular alcohol use was prevalent. In contrast to previous reports from retirement communities, heavy and abusive drinking were uncommon by our measures, perhaps because of the older age and female predominance of the sample. Drinking appears to be associated with more social contacts and, possibly, better health status.
轶事报道及此前的两项研究表明，退休社区中酗酒现象尤为普遍。本研究的目的是验证或反驳这一发现，并确定退休社区中与酗酒相关的特征。
这项横断面研究通过邮寄调查问卷的方式，从威斯康星州密尔沃基郊区的三个退休社区收集信息。问卷包括从哈瓦里问卷和CAGE问卷改编而来的饮酒问题，以筛查酒精滥用情况。
退休社区的454名独立居民中有317人完成并返回了调查问卷，回复率为70%。受访者的平均年龄为83±6岁，全部为白人，女性占77%。47%的人饮酒，15%的人每周饮用1至6杯酒，8%的人每周饮用7杯或更多酒。只有两人在CAGE问卷上筛查出酒精滥用呈阳性。大多数饮酒者自搬到社区后饮酒量有所减少。男性、社交活动、无宗教信仰和吸烟等因素的比例随着饮酒量的增加而显著上升。尽管饮酒者更有可能吸烟，但没有指标表明他们的健康状况比不饮酒者差。
尽管该人群年龄较大，但经常饮酒的情况很普遍。与此前退休社区的报告相反，按照我们的标准，重度饮酒和酒精滥用并不常见，这可能是因为样本的年龄较大且女性占多数。饮酒似乎与更多的社交接触有关，并且可能与更好的健康状况有关。
