Older drinkers get drunk faster, many without realising it

If you’re over 50, and your friends have noted that you can’t handle that third glass of wine as well as you used to, a new study confirms it’s not their imagination.

Older adults who are social drinkers can become impaired by alcohol after only one or two drinks and not realise it, University of Kentucky researchers report.
 
Most studies on drinking are done with college students and involve binge drinking, but little attention has been paid to the effects of social drinking among older adults.

As the population ages, there are more older drinkers. Yet little is known about age-related differences in the effects of alcohol, the researchers noted.
 
“Even though younger and older adults appear to have similar metabolism, the behavioral implications are different,” said lead researcher, Sara Jo Nixon, a professor in the department of psychiatry, division of addiction medicine and director of the Neurocognitive Laboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Small amounts of alcohol affect older adults more than younger adults, noted professor Nixon.
 
“Older adults thought they were fine when they weren’t,” she said.

“You really can’t rely on asking, ‘Are you alright to drive,’ even with lower amounts of alcohol. This may be particularly true for older adults.”
 
The report was published in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
 
“Even moderate drinking can result in cognitive differences that are subtle but significant, and we need to be aware of them,” she said.
 
Dr James Garbutt, medical director of the Alcohol & Substance Abuse Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said this study highlights the difference between older and younger social drinkers.
 
“The biggest take-home message for me is that older adults had impairment on this measure of attention and performance with a relatively small amount of alcohol – about two to three drinks – compared to younger subjects,” he said.

“This highlights the possibility of increased neurocognitive impairment with alcohol in the older population.”
 
The study also noted that older adults were less able to perceive deficits than younger individuals.