Harmful drinking is generally considered to be how a person can regularly overindulge in consuming alcoholic drinks over a long period of time, often leading to alcoholism; now, a recent study has shed some light on the phenomenon and its relations to socioeconomic status, finding some interesting facts about who has a bigger tendency to follow this conduct.
The recent study on harmful drinking came from English researchers, who published it at the British Medical Journal Open recently after analyzing more than 9,000 responses from a major ongoing study on aging from the European country.
According to IBN Live, the study found that there are some specific traits that can be potentially found in those who engage in harmful drinking when being over 50 years of age, including belonging to the middle class and, interestingly enough, being "successful agers," which is to say leading healthy, active lives with strong social connections and being well off.
Although these people take better care of their general well-being by exercising and minding their food intake through healthy eating, the more successful people over 50 are more likely to celebrate with a drink or two (or many more to apply as harmful drinking) than their less successful counterparts.
Tech Times reports that the harmful drinking study, created by AGE UK, saw researchers analyzing data from the English Longitudinal Survey of Aging (ELSA), which focuses on men and women over 50 who live by themselves independently in England.
"It suggests public health messaging is not reaching high income groups who are most at risk," said Professor Jose Iparraguirre, Age UK's Chief Economist and study leader, to Reliawire. "Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realize that what they are doing is putting their health in danger."
Calling harmful drinking in people over 50 a "hidden health and social problem," the researchers behind the study are calling for a stronger focus on this part on the population over this issue.
