Heavier Alcohol Intake Linked to Lower Frailty Risk

Heavier alcohol consumption might reduce the risk of frailty in older adults, according to the findings of a recent study.

In their systematic review, the researchers identified 4 studies that examined the association between baseline alcohol consumption and subsequent frailty risk among a total of 44,051 participants 55 years of age and older (66.2% of participants consumed alcohol). They calculated the odds ratios (OR) for frailty and compared the highest with the lowest alcohol consumption.
_________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
Alcohol Does Not Prevent CVD in Individuals With NAFLD
Moderate Alcohol Intake May Reduce Mortality Risk
_________________________________________________________

Compared with no alcohol consumption, the highest alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk for frailty (pooled OR: 0.44, 95% CI= 0.19-1.00). This was not attenuated after the researchers adjusted for the frequency of alcohol consumption (pooled OR 0.61, 95% CI= 0.44-0.77).

In addition, the researchers found that 2 of the studies suggested a possible U-shaped association with the lowest risk for moderate drinkers. All studies had moderate heterogeneity and no evidence of publication bias.

“This systematic review and meta-analysis study provides the first pooled evidence suggesting that heavier alcohol consumption is associated with lower incident frailty compared with no alcohol consumption among community-dwelling middle-aged and older people,” the researchers concluded. “However, this association may be due to unadjusted effect measures, residual confounding, ‘sick quitter’ effect or survival bias.”

Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Kojima G, Liljas A, Iliffe S, Jivraj S, Walters K. A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective associations between alcohol consumption and incident frailty. Age and Ageing. 2018;47(1): 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afx086.