Abstract

Objectives

To explore alcohol consumption among older Norwegian adults with symptoms of cognitive decline, assess the agreement between the reports of older adults and their next of kin regarding a person’s alcohol consumption, and explore clinical and sociodemographic variables associated with agreement.

Method

Alcohol consumption was measured among 3608 older adults consulting specialist health care for symptoms of cognitive decline. Agreement between the participant and their next of kin regarding the participant’s alcohol consumption was assessed with a weighted kappa (κ). A logistic regression analysis for hierarchical data was used to explore variables associated with agreement.

Results

Both the participants and their next of kin reported that more than 20% of the participants consumed alcohol 1–3 times a week, and that approximately 10% consumed alcohol four or more times a week. The agreement between the participant’s and their next of kin’s report regarding the participant’s alcohol consumption was high (κ = .852), and variables associated with agreement were no cognitive decline, not drinking alcohol during the last year or ever as reported by the participant, and low agitation scores on a psychiatric assessment.

Conclusion

This paper found alcohol consumption among older adults with symptoms of cognitive decline that was above the national average in Norway. This is also the first paper to demonstrate that a next of kin can be a reliable source of information regarding older adults’ alcohol consumption. Health personnel should consider these findings when performing medical assessments or developing interventions for older adults.

中文翻译：

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有认知能力下降症状的老年人饮酒咨询专科保健

摘要

目标

探讨具有认知衰退症状的挪威老年人的饮酒情况，评估老年人及其近亲报告的饮酒情况的一致性，并探索与一致性相关的临床和社会人口统计学变量。

方法

在 3608 名因认知能力下降症状而咨询专业医疗保健的老年人中测量了酒精摄入量。参与者及其近亲之间关于参与者饮酒的协议通过加权 kappa (κ) 进行评估。分层数据的逻辑回归分析用于探索与协议相关的变量。

结果

参与者及其近亲都报告说，超过 20% 的参与者每周饮酒 1-3 次，大约 10% 的参与者每周饮酒四次或更多次。参与者及其近亲关于参与者饮酒的报告之间的一致性很高 (κ = .852)，与一致性相关的变量是没有认知能力下降，参与者报告的过去一年或从未饮酒，和精神评估中的低躁动分数。

结论

这篇论文发现，有认知能力下降症状的老年人的饮酒量高于挪威的全国平均水平。这也是第一篇证明近亲可以成为有关老年人饮酒的可靠信息来源的论文。卫生人员在对老年人进行医学评估或制定干预措施时应考虑这些发现。