Treated and untreated remission from problem drinking in late life: Post-remission functioning and health-related quality of life
Open accessAbstract
Objective To evaluate the post-remission status of older remitted problem drinkers who achieved stable remission without treatment.Method The post-remission drinking behavior, health-related functioning, life context, coping, and help-seeking of older, untreated (n=330) and treated (n=120) former problem drinkers who had been remitted for a minimum of 6 years were compared twice over the course of 6 years to each other and to lifetime nonproblem drinkers (n=232). Analyses considered the impact of severity of drinking problem history.Results Untreated remitters were more likely than treated remitters to continue to drink, exhibited fewer chronic health problems and less depressive symptomatology, and were less likely to smoke. Untreated remitters' life contexts were somewhat more benign than those of treated ones, and they were less likely to describe a coping motive for drinking and engage in post-remission help-seeking. Although untreated remitters more closely resembled lifetime nonproblem drinkers than did treated remitters, both untreated and treated remitter groups exhibited worse health-related functioning, more financial and interpersonal stressors, and more post-remission help-seeking than did lifetime nonproblem drinkers.Conclusions Regardless of whether late-life remission was gained without or with treatment, prior drinking problems conveyed a legacy of health-related and life context deficits.
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The findings indicate a higher level of relationship problems than those reported by spouses and friends of non-problem drinkers.
“the findings suggest an elevated level of relationship problems compared to those reported by spouses and friends of non-problem drinkers.20,21”
From Al-Anon family groups' newcomers and members: Concerns about the drinkers in their lives: Concerns About Drinkers in Al-Anon (2014) · cites this paper as [21]
The Results (§3.2) report more spouse-related stressors among treated and untreated remitters than among lifetime nonproblem drinkers; they report more friend stressors only for treated remitters. The Methods (§2.2.3) describe measures of participants’ relationships with spouses and friends, not reports supplied by those spouses or friends. The claim therefore captures an elevated level of some relationship problems but misstates who reported them and overgeneralizes the friend comparison. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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“Although some problems in these areas (eg, gets on your nerves, disagrees with you about important things) may be normative in long‐term relationships (on average, drinker relationships had existed for two decades) that involve a high frequency of daily contact (about 50% of respondents and drinkers), the findings sug…”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Schutte, K. K., Brennan, P. L., & Moos, R. H.
- Affiliations
- VA Palo Alto Health Care System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schutte, Kathleen K.
- ORCID
- Brennan, Penny L.
- Venue
- Drug and Alcohol Dependence
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-01
- Volume
- 99
- Issue
- 1-3
- Pages
- 150-159
- ISSN
- 0376-8716 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2673086
- OpenAlex
- W2022385871
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Drug and Alcohol Dependence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA15685, R01AA006699, R01AA015685, AA 06699)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Keywords
- problem drinking, older adults, alcohol treatment, health-related quality of life, chronic disease, depressive symptoms, smoking, coping motives, help-seeking, life context, financial stress, interpersonal stress
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Aged, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Quality of Life, Remission Induction, Sex Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress, Psychological, Health Behavior
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