Alcohol, Drug Abuse Continue to Cause Problems for Aging Baby Boomers

By 4 Therapy

When they were wallowing in the mud at Woodstock, leading the nation into the drug-fueled 1970s and exhorting the youth of the world to distrust anyone over the age of 30, the members of the Baby Boom generation caused considerable consternation among their elders.

Fast-forward a few decades, and the participants of the world's most famous youth movement are now the grey-haired oldsters that they once warned about. But while their appearances and politics may have changed a bit since the heydays of the counterculture, several studies indicate that their interest in substance abuse continues to thrive.

Binge Drinking Among Older Adults

With high school and college students heading back to school, more than a few news reports have focused on the dangerous prevalence of alcohol abuse and binge drinking among U.S. youth. And while teen alcohol abuse is clearly a serious problem, the dangers of the misuse of alcohol are not limited to the under-30 set.

According to a study that was posted on the website of the American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers with Duke University Medical Center have reported the following statistics pertaining to alcohol abuse among older adults:

• Within the 50-to-64 age demographic, 23 percent of men and nine percent of women report consuming at least five alcoholic beverages in the same day within the previous month.
• Nineteen percent of men and 13 percent of women in the same group (ages 50 to 64) report instances of heavy or at-risk drinking, which the researchers define as consuming two or more drinks per day.
• Among adults over the age of 65, binge drinking (more than five drinks for men, or four for women, in one drinking session) was reported by 15 percent of men and three percent of women.

"This is not a teenage problem. This is not a college-level problem. This is a problem that is existing in today's boomer population," Carol Colleran, author of Aging and Addiction: Helping Older Adults Overcome Alcohol and Medication Dependence, told ABC's David Muir and Gitika Ahuja for their Aug. 17 article about the prevalence of binge drinking among older adults.

Specific Dangers

While binge drinking is an unhealthy pursuit by individuals of any age, older adults face particular problems related to their bodies' ability (or lack thereof) to process alcohol.

"They don't metabolize alcohol as quickly, they may be on medications, or they may have some health problems that alcohol may contribute to," Dan Blazer, the lead author of the Duke study, said in an Aug. 17 USA Today article. "On average, if a young person drinks five beers and an older person drinks five beers, the older person is almost certainly going to have more difficulty."

Blazer's comments are consistent with information provided by The American Geriatrics Society (TAGS), which notes that the effects of alcohol abuse by older adults can be exacerbated by the following situations and conditions:

• Natural effects of aging -- "Aging may increase sensitivity to alcohol, particularly in the central nervous system," TAGS states on its website. "Older adults have higher blood alcohol levels per amount consumed than do younger adults, due to decreased gastric alcohol dehydrogenase and lower volume of distribution."
• Medications -- Nine of every 10 older adults are using some type of medications, TAGS notes, and about 100 of these commonly used drugs can cause adverse reactions when combined with alcohol.
• Chronic conditions -- TAGS reports that 30 percent of older adult drinkers are at risk for worsening chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, gastrointestinal bleeding and depression.

Drug Abuse Among Older Adults

Alcohol is not the only drug that is being abused by older adults.

In December 2002, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Office of Applied Studies released a report titled Substance Use by Older Adults: Estimates of Future Impact on the Treatment System, which noted current trends of substance abuse among older adults and projected future increases. The following were among the findings and projections that were included in the report:

• Abuse of alcohol and drugs, licit and illicit, is currently a serious health problem among older Americans, affecting up to 17 percent of adults aged 60 or older (approximately eight million adults).
• It is estimated that the number of adults over the age of 50 with substance abuse problems will double to five million between 1999 and 2020.
• In 2020, approximately 50 percent of persons aged 50 to 70 will be in a high-risk group (use of alcohol and marijuana before age 30) compared with just less than nine percent in 1999.
• An analysis of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) data indicates that the baby boom generation uses the largest proportion of substance abuse treatment services provided by the VA.

Getting Help

Regardless of the type of substances they are misusing, older adults who are struggling with alcoholism, drug addition or other disorders related to substance abuse are best served by receiving treatment from professionals or programs that have experience with elderly clients.

The most effective drug treatment for older adults includes specialized geriatric health care, attention to the unique mental health needs of older adults and an understanding of related issues, such as chronic pain and the effects of long-term exposure to prescription medications.

As is the case with drug and alcohol rehab clients of all ages, overcoming a substance abuse problem can be a challenge for older adults -- but with effective professional intervention, older men and women can achieve recovery and pursue healthier and happier drug-free futures.