Heavy drinkers, both male and female, are less likely to look after themselves and seek medical care that other category of drinkers, including moderate drinkers and those who have never consumed alcohol. Risky drinker display attitudes and practices that could adversely affect their long-term health, according to a study of 7,884 health plan members.
Heavy drinkers are also more likely to engage in other behaviors that can put their short and long-term health at risk.
The research was conducted by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research of thousands of members enrolled in their Northwest health plan in Oregon and Washington. Risky drinking was defined as those who drank three or more drinks a day, those who consumed five ore more drinks in one setting (four for women) and those who were identified as at-risk drinkers using a screening tool.
Poor Attitude About Health
The study found that heavy or at-risk drinkers:
- Had less collaborative relationships with their doctors.
- Were more liked to dislike going to the doctor.
- Were less confident they could change their health practices.
- Were more likely to think health is a matter of good fortune.
“The main finding here is that risky drinkers also engage in other behaviors–such as relieving stress with alcohol and cigarettes, not wearing seatbelts, unhealthy eating and not regularly seeing their doctors–that put their health at risk,” said study lead author Carla Green. “Physicians should not only be concerned about patients’ heavy drinking, but also these other health-related practices.”
Moderate Drinkers More Healthy
Surprisingly, the study also found that moderate drinkers exhibited better health practices than life-long abstainers, former drinkers, light drinkers (less than one drink a day) and heavier drinkers.
Moderate drinkers had generally better health, had better health-related attitudes and practices and were more likely to seek routine medical care.
“Even after taking these other health-related attitudes and practices into account, there was still a small but independent relationship between moderate drinking and better self-assessed health,” said co-author Michael Polen in a news release. “Previous research has linked moderate alcohol drinking with cardiovascular benefits, so that might be the underlying reason moderate drinkers report better health. It’s also possible that there are additional factors we didn’t measure that account for this positive relationship.”
The study was published in the journal Addiction Research & Theory.