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Alcohol use disorders in older people

Part of: Bespoke shallow archive Weizmann

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

Simon Coulton
Simon Coulton*
Affiliation:
Centre for Health Service Studies, University of Kent, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Simon Coulton, Centre for Health Service Studies, George Allen Wing, University of Kent, Kent CT2 7NZ. Email: s.coulton@kent.ac.uk
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Summary

The number of people aged 65 years or more is increasing worldwide. Alcohol use disorders (AUD) are a common condition in the older population, and this combined with the changing age demographic in the population means that AUD in this population is a significant public health concern. AUD has a major impact upon the physical, psychological and social health of the older population. There is evidence that older people do benefit from interventions to reduce alcohol consumption as much as, if not more than, younger populations. There is evidence that AUD in the older population often goes undetected and the potential for beneficial behavioural health change is not realized.

Keywords

Alcohol useprevalencerisk factorstreatmentscreeningolder peopleageing
Type
Psychological and social gerontology
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , August 2009 , pp. 217 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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