Factors Associated with Drinking Behavior and Health Status of the Middle-and Old-aged People

Abstract

This study was conducted to clarify the actual condition of drinking of 2, 920 residents of a rural community in Aomori, Japan. The study group consisted of all the residents aged 65 and over (2, 220 subjects) and a random sample of the population aged 20-64 years (700 subjects). From the study group, 310 men with a daily drinking habit were analyzed to clarify the relationship between drinking behavior and environmental factors, and to find out which drinking behavior and environmental factors have an influence on health status. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Within the study group, 55% of the old-aged men and 17% of the old-aged women drank. For the middle-aged subjects, 73% of men and 61% of women drank. The proportion of those who had a daily drinking habit were 30% for the old-aged men, 2% for the old-aged women, 28% for the middle-aged men and 12% for the middle-aged women. (2) The proportion of those being in good health was the lowest within those who stopped drinking, and the proportion of those being in good health within those with a daily drinking habit was not higher than that of those who have never drunk. (3) Drinking behavior was influenced not only by basic attributes such as age, but also by environmental factors such as stress and/or self-pessimism, lifestyle habits and family. (4) According to the results of the path analysis, (1)drinking volume was significantly influenced by the factors of age, lifestyle habits and stress and/or self-pessimism; (2)KAST (a screening test for alcoholism) was significantly influenced by the factors of drinking volume and stress and/or self-essimism; (3)selfrated health was significantly influenced by the factors of family composition and stress and/or self-pessimism. It can be seen that stress and/or self-pessimism was a very important factor influencing all three aspects of drinking volume, KAST and self-rated health.