Problem drinking increases older men's fall risk

Last Updated: 2006-12-01 16:03:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older men with a history of problem drinking are more likely to fall, putting them at risk of debilitating fractures, a new study shows.

But men who reported recent drinking had stronger bones than those who abstained, and men with no history of alcohol abuse who drank moderately had a reduced risk of falling, Dr. Peggy M. Cawthon of the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and colleagues report.

Research to date on drinking and fracture risk in older men has had mixed results, Cawthon and her team note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Some studies have found alcoholics have a lower bone mineral density (BMD), but it is not clear if this is due to poor nutrition or the effects of alcohol itself. Other research has linked alcohol consumption to greater BMD, while findings of research on how drinking affects fall risk have been contradictory.

To investigate the issue, Cawthon and her colleagues assessed the alcohol intake of 5,974 men aged 65 and older, and then followed them for about four years.

Just over one third of the men drank very little (less than 12 drinks per year), 52.8 percent were light drinkers (less than 14 drinks per week) and 11.7 percent were heavy drinkers (14 or more alcoholic drinks per week). Another 16.8 percent reported they had ever had a drinking problem.

The researchers used the CAGE questionnaire, a series of four questions, to assess problem drinking.

The more the men drank, the researchers found, the greater their BMD. There was no effect of alcohol consumption on the likelihood of suffering a fracture.

The light alcohol users were 23 percent less likely to report falling twice in the first year of the study than were the abstainers.

However, the men who reported problem drinking were 62 percent more likely to have fallen than those with no history of problem drinking. Men who currently abstained from alcohol and were past problem drinkers had at the greatest risk of falls.

It's possible, the researchers note, that men who are problem drinkers, or who have been problem drinkers in the past, may have worse neuromuscular function than those with no such history. Further research is needed, they conclude, to better understand how alcohol use affects older men's health over time.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, November 2006.