PUBLIC HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT AMT, vol. 22, no. 2, 2017, p. 1 DRINKING PATTERNS IN THE ELDERLY ROMANIAN POPULATION – PREVALENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS ALINA ELENA STANCA 1 , EUGENIA-CLAUDIA BRATU 2 , DANA GALIETA MINCĂ 3 1 “Alessandrescu- Rusescu” National Institute for Mother and Child’s Health, Bucharest, 2,3 “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest Keywords: elderly, alcohol use, drinking patterns, depression Abstract: Confronted with demographic ageing, the cross-sectional study was designed to estimate the characteristics of alcohol use among older Romanians. Based on a sample of 107 people aged 65+, data regarding alcohol use, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected. 52.4% of the participants were current drinkers, 6.5% excessive drinkers, 14.95% binge drinkers and 13% had alcohol-related problems. Current drinking was mostly reported by non-hospitalized males lacking close social contacts, but with smoking history and exposed to alcohol use and stressful life events. Harmful drinkers were mostly married males not living alone, exposed to alcohol use and having grown up alongside an alcoholic. Alcohol-related problems were mostly found among depressed male drinkers with family history of alcoholism. As alcohol use and misuse are encountered among aging Romanians at rates comparable to other countries, more awareness needs to be drawn onto this matter. 2 Corresponding author: Eugenia Claudia Bratu, Str. Dr. Leonte, Nr. 3-5, Institutul de Sănătate Publică, Et. 2, cam. 224, București, România, E-mail: ioneugenia@yahoo.com, Phone: +40765 956609 Article received on 19.03.2017 and accepted for publication on 29.05.2017 ACTA MEDICA TRANSILVANICA June 2017;22(2):1-5 INTRODUCTION The percentage of people aged 60+ around the globe is expected to grow from 10% in 2000 to 21.1% in 2050, becoming the fastest growing population subgroup.(1) Although alcohol use decreases with age, recent surveys have shown that the incidence of alcohol consumption among the elderly is slowly increasing (2-4) and mortality rates linked to alcohol use tend to be higher within this age group.(5) Older people are more susceptible to alcohol’s effects even at lower levels of use.(2,4,6-8) Because of the altered brain responsiveness, alcohol is a faster depressant (5) and the potential for harmful interactions between medications and alcohol is also greater within this age group because of the altered metabolism and polypharmacy.(4-12) In addition, alcohol use can exacerbate pre-existing medical conditions commonly seen among them.(2,6) Healthcare workers usually avoid asking older people about their drinking habits and even when they do, few suitable screening instruments exist to ease their work.(2,4,5) Thus, the diagnosis of alcohol use disorders in the elderly is still underestimated (13,14), although older people with alcohol misuse may benefit as much as younger adults from specialized treatment and even respond better.(2,3,15) Alcohol-related problems’ detection in the elderly is also encumbered by the scarcity of specially tailored alcohol use guidelines for this age group. Few countries, such as USA and Italy, have adopted alcohol consumption guidelines for the elderly.(2,4,9) In addition, the diverse definitions of standard drinks among countries (16) have made outlining the levels of unhealthy drinking in this age group even more difficult. PURPOSE The aim of the study was to determine the alcohol consumption patterns embraced by older Romanians. Aside from estimating the prevalence of alcohol use and harmful drinking among older people, the study examined their association with a wide range of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, including depression. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study design and population The data for our analysis were taken from a cross- sectional observational study based on a questionnaire administered by an interviewer. The sole inclusion criterion was being at least 65 years old. 107 older people were included in the study, 56 of them hospitalized at that moment and 51 recruited using an online version of the questionnaire. Socio-demographic variables. Respondents were asked about their age, gender, marital status, level of education, residence, living situation, working status and monthly income. They were also questioned about their smoking status (former and current smokers being considered as having smoking history) and the quality and number of social contacts. The stressful life events experienced during the last year were quantified using the Elders Life Stress Inventory (ELSI).(17) Alcohol consumption. Each participant was asked about his exposure to alcohol use (attendance to social events where alcohol is drunk, attitude of his social circle towards alcohol use) and his potential family history of alcoholism. Participants were initially categorized as current drinkers (who reported alcohol use during the last year), former drinkers (who reported alcohol use in their lifetime, but not during the last year) and lifetime abstainers. Data on average alcohol use and circumstances of drinking were collected from current drinkers. As Romania has no generally accepted definition (16), we considered a standard drink as 10 g ethanol, the equivalent of 250 ml beer with 5% alcohol, 125 ml wine with 11% alcohol and 30 ml spirits with 45% alcohol. We used quantity and frequency questions for each type of alcoholic beverage (wine, beer, spirits), as they were considered more accurate.(18) According to their drinking frequency, current drinkers were divided in occasional (drinking less than once a month) and