People with a history of alcohol abuse are more likely to develop a disability that affects their ability to work or function at home as they grow older, according to Duke University researchers.
In a study of more than 10,000 individuals aged 51 to 62, men and women who were heavy drinkers when the study began were 20% more likely to report a disability 6 years later, when the study ended, than individuals who did not abuse alcohol. Individuals defined as heavy drinkers consumed at least three drinks per day.
However, heavy drinkers were no more likely to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), report Drs. Jan Ostermann and Frank A. Sloan of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
The results of the study are based on information from a national health and retirement study, for which men and women and their spouses answered questions about their work, income, family, health, drinking habits, and disabilities and limitations, at several points over 6 years.
Initially, 29% of adults reported that they had some sort of disability but only 6% were receiving SSDI or SSI, according to the report published in the December issue of The Milbank Quarterly, a public health and healthcare policy journal.
People who did not drink at all were the most likely to be disabled, the report indicates.
And those who were problem drinkers were more likely to develop a limitation over 2 years compared with their peers who were not problem drinkers but consumed about the same amount of alcohol. And those with a history of problem drinking were more likely to begin to receive SSDI or SSI than drinkers without a history of problems.
«Much disability first occurs after age 50 and before the traditional age of retirement, age 65. Disability represents a burden to the individuals involved, to their families, and to society more generally, in terms of reduced market productivity and increased demands for public assistance,» the researchers explain.
