Moderate drinking may cut seniors’ disability risk
|
|
Healthy older adults who have up to one or two drinks per day may be less likely to develop physical disabilities over time, a new study suggests.
The study, which followed nearly 4,300 older U.S. adults, found that healthy, moderate drinkers were less likely to develop problems with walking, daily chores and other physical tasks over five years.
The benefit was not seen, however, among men and women who were in poorer health at the study’s start.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, add to the list of potential health benefits attributed to modest drinking, including a lower risk of heart disease and a longer life.
They suggest that the equivalent of a drink—a 12-ounce beer or a standard glass of wine, for example—on most days of the week might help stall physical impairments, according to Dr. Alison A. Moore of the University of California, Los Angeles, one of the study investigators.
The reasons are not certain, but one possibility is that the benefit comes from a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, Moore told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues accounted for study participants’ history of stroke, a major cause of disability in older adults. However, Moore explained, many older adults suffer what are known as “mini-strokes”—disruptions in brain blood flow that may not cause clear symptoms but can nonetheless affect a person’s long-term functioning.
The findings are based on data from a government health survey of 4,276 U.S. adults who were 60 years old, on average, and free of physical disabilities at the outset. Five years later, 15 percent had developed some kind of impairment, including difficulty walking, bathing or running daily errands.
In general, men and women who’d been light or moderate drinkers at the start—having less than 15 drinks per week—were one-quarter less likely than abstainers to become disabled.
However, the benefit was limited to older adults who’d started out with no major health conditions.
The researchers speculate that when older adults are already in poorer health, alcohol may do little to protect against—or might even promote—physical decline. The interaction between alcohol and many medications, for instance, may increase the risk of disability.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 1, 2009.
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
