Older adults become more impaired after few drinks

Gainesville, Florida, March 6: A booze or two at a social get-together may leave people aged 50 and above more intoxicated than their younger counterparts.

The latest research finds that older adults are likely to become tipsy earlier than their younger counterparts following alcohol intake. However, they were completely oblivious of their impaired senses following alcoholic intoxication.

Older people become more impaired after having a peg or two. However, the adults seem to be quite unaware of their intoxication. When asked how they felt, older adults said they were fine, stated Sara Jo Nixon, a psychiatry professor at University of Florida’s (UF) McKnight Brain Institute and study’s lead author.

“Older adults thought they were fine when they weren't. You really can't rely on asking, ‘Are you alright to drive,’ even with lower amounts of alcohol. This may be particularly true for older adults,” cautioned Nixon.

The research in the Journal of Studies in Alcohol and Drugs says that older adults “should be particularly careful about driving after social drinking.”

The research made it clear that people aged 50 or above, took at least 5 seconds more and fared badly in special tests, as compared to their non-drinking counterparts.

“There was a five-second difference that looks to be due primarily to the alcohol. That doesn’t sound like much, but five seconds is a big difference if you’re in a car and need to apply the brakes. It can mean the difference between a wreck, and not-a-wreck,” said Nixon.

The results of the study were based on 42 participants in the age group 50-74 years and 26 participants in the age group 25-35 years. All of them were asked to complete trial-making tests after randomly assigning them with either an alcohol based or non-alcoholic placebo drink. It was found that alcohol intoxication made the participants perform badly in the first test as compared to their younger counterparts.

“Even moderate drinking can result in cognitive differences that are subtle but significant, and we need to be aware of them,” cautioned Nixon.

Earlier studies had focused on binge drinking and its effects on college students, thus completely ignoring the drinking effects on older adults. The researchers felt concerned that only a handful of studies focus on age-related differences in terms of alcohol intoxication.

“Even though younger and older adults appear to have similar metabolism, the behavioral implications are different,” stated Nixon.

The present research studies the differences between old and young drinkers, stated Dr. James Garbutt, medical director of the Alcohol & Substance Abuse Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“The biggest take-home message for me is that older adults had impairment on this measure of attention and performance with a relatively small amount of alcohol -- about two to three drinks -- compared to younger subjects,” clarified Garbutt.

“This highlights the possibility of increased neurocognitive impairment with alcohol in the older population,” Garbutt added.

The message from the researchers is clear. Older people need to be wary before indulging in social drinking, as it can prove fatal for them especially during driving.