Moderate Alcohol in Older Adults: A Preliminary Study

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管人们认识到老年人群体在不断增加，老年人在社会和职业上参与的时间更长，酒精可能与常用药物和各种功能产生不良反应，但对老年人适度饮酒的系统研究非常有限。它受到狭窄的测试电池，主要包括男性样本和/或未能招募代表性样本的限制。这项修订后的试点研究旨在解决其中的一些局限性。具体来说，它将提供关于急性适度饮酒和持续适度饮酒对神经认知、神经生理和精神运动表现以及社会心理功能和适应的影响的关键初步数据。为了完成这项初步工作，将对148名年龄在56岁至70岁之间的老年适度饮酒者进行评估。132/148将在双盲安慰剂对照设计下进行测试。其余16人（8男8女）将组成一个对照组，在既不期望也不管理酒精的控制条件下进行测试。由于老年妇女是一个特别未被充分研究的群体，因此将尽一切努力招募相同数量的男性和女性饮酒者。从这项研究中收集的数据将提供关于急性、中等剂量酒精对各种领域的老年饮酒者的影响的关键信息，并将提供与我们正在进行的工作中评估的年轻药物滥用和社区控制受试者的比较数据。通过确保适当的方案制定、培训、试点工作和初步数据收集，该项目将为我们正在进行的研究项目中进一步发展老龄化重点提供必要的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the recognition that the cohort of older adults continues to increase, that older adults remain socially and professionally engaged for longer periods of time and that alcohol may adversely interact with common medications and various functions, systematic research on moderate alcohol use in older populations is remarkably limited. It is restricted by narrow test batteries, the inclusion of largely male samples and/or the failure to recruit representative samples. This revised pilot study was designed to address some of these limitations. Specifically, it would provide critical preliminary data regarding the effects of the acute administration of moderate alcohol and the effects of continued moderate drinking on neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and psychomotor performance as well as psychosocial functioning and adaptation. To complete this initial work, 148 older moderate drinkers between the ages of 56 and 70 will be evaluated. 132/148 will be tested under a double-blind placebo-controlled design. The remaining 16 (8 male/8 female) will comprise a comparison group to be tested under control conditions where alcohol is neither expected nor administered, Because older women are a particularly understudied group, every attempt will be made to recruit equal numbers of male and female drinkers. Data collected from this study will provide critical information regarding the effects of acute, moderate doses of alcohol on older drinkers in a variety of domains and will also provide comparison data with younger substance abusing and community control subjects evaluated in our on-going work. This project, by ensuring appropriate protocol development, training, pilot work and initial data collection, would provide the necessary foundation for the further development of an aging focus in our on-going research program.