NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - 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 researchers.

Their study of more than 10,000 individuals aged 51 to 62 found that those with a history of problem drinking, especially when combined with recent heavy drinking, were more likely to report some sort of limitation at work or at home than individuals who did not have a history of alcohol abuse. Individuals defined as heavy drinkers consumed at least three drinks a day.

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. 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.

``A history of problem drinking, especially when combined with recent heavy drinking, is associated with a greater prevalence and incidence of limitations in home and/or work tasks in a near-elderly population,'' the authors write. ``These alcohol-related higher rates of limitations do not, however, translate into a greater likelihood that heavy and problem drinkers receive income support from SSDI or SSI.''

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.

By the study's end, the rate of disability was found to be strongly associated with a person's current drinking habits and history of drinking. Problem drinkers, for instance, had higher rates of disability while moderate drinkers, or those who consumed up to two drinks daily, were the least likely to report a limitation or to be receiving SSDI or SSI.

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.

In other findings, smokers and former smokers were more likely than their peers who never smoked to be disabled by the end of the study. Individuals who did not graduate from college and those with a very low body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height, were also more likely to report a disability.

``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.

SOURCE: Milbank Quarterly 2001 December.

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