Alcohol consumption in people aged 50 or older in Europe

Hazardous drinking in the elderly has become an important public health problem due to the ageing of the population and the fact that alcohol-related consequences are magnified in this age group. However, to date, few studies examine hazardous drinking in people aged 50 years or older and the factor...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Bosque Prous, Marina
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/523488
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/523488
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hazardous drinking
Gender
Europe
Alcohol policy
Economic crisis
Consum de risc d’alcohol
Gènere
Europa
Polítiques de control d’alcohol
Crisi econòmica
614
Descripción
Sumario:Hazardous drinking in the elderly has become an important public health problem due to the ageing of the population and the fact that alcohol-related consequences are magnified in this age group. However, to date, few studies examine hazardous drinking in people aged 50 years or older and the factors associated with alcohol use. The aim of this thesis is to quantify hazardous drinking in people aged 50 years or older in Europe, according to gender and country, and to analyze the possible individual and contextual factors related to such consumption. Throughout the thesis, the source of information was the European project SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), which includes data from different European countries. This thesis consists of five articles that attempt to respond to the different specific objectives. The results suggest that the prevalence of hazardous drinking in people aged 50 years or older is around 22%, with variations between countries. These variations can be explained by individual factors, such as age or gender, and various contextual factors, such as alcohol advertising restrictions and the unemployment rate. Finally, one of the contextual aspects that may have had more impact in recent years is the economic crisis. We found that, in people aged 50 to 64 years, the incidence of hazardous drinking was greater in those who lost their jobs. However, from 2006 to 2013 there has been a decrease in hazardous drinking and also in the average amount of alcohol consumed in people aged 50 to 64 years in Europe.