Hitting bottle risky for boomers

LITTLE ROCK — The early baby boomers are known as the generation of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. But it turns out, they're hitting the bottle pretty hard as they age, as well. And that portends significant alcohol-related health problems ahead as those midlifers become senior citizens.

A new study finds that among men and women 50 to 64 years old, almost one in four men and one in 10 women is a heavy episodic drinker - meaning that at some point in the past 30 days, he has downed four (for women) or five (for men) servings of alcohol in a single two-hour sitting. Such alcohol abuse - roughly defined as the amount needed to attain a bloodalcohol level of 0.08 (the level at which a driver is considered intoxicated) - frequently escapes the notice of physicians, even though it presents an escalating health risk as the drinker ages.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that such heavy drinkers are more likely to use tobacco or illicit drugs than those who do not drink. It also found that among women, such excessive drinking was more common among the employed and those using prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes; among men,it was more common among the unmarried and those with higher incomes.

Heavy drinking among the still highly mobile boomer group is associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents and other alcohol-related injuries. But as these drinkers become elderly, when they are more likely to have chronic medical conditions and to take a wider range of prescription drugs, excessive drinking incurs greater risks to general health. In particular, as the generation escalates its use of analgesic medications for the aches and pains of aging, liver damage can become a greater risk.

Duke University psychiatrist Dan Blazer, one of the authors of the study, said its findings suggest that physicians should ask their patients more pointed andspecific questions about alcohol use because a habit of drinking excessively often "flies beneath" the radar of standard alcohol-disorders screens.

The 50- to 64-year-olds surveyed in the latest study are less likely to be risky drinkers than young adults, who in a recent finding, drank heavily at a rate of 41.7 percent for college students versus 37.1 percent of those not attending college. Among these populations, experts in substance abuse expect a certain amount of excessive use - part of exploring limits (and testing their perceived immortality) - before moderating alcohol consumption as young adults and settling down to the responsibilities of parenting, careers and adulthood.

It's not clear how much baby boomers settled down and moderated their drinking habits; the latest study takes a current snapshot of American adults, rather than a look across the life span of the middle-aged. One study that looked at a 1999-2000 national survey of Americans found that 67 percent of baby boomers who drink did so at levels that exceeded moderation.

But the present study does show that 50- to 64-year-olds engage in heavy drinking more than the generation ahead of them does. In those over 65, 14 percent of men and 3 percent of women were found to be excessive drinkers. For those 50 to 64, the rates were 23 percent for men and 9 percent for women.