Associations of alcohol consumption status with activities of daily living among older adults in China

Abstract

Background

With the rapid growth of the elderly population and public health challenges in China, concerns arise related to disability associated with activities of daily living (ADLs) and alcohol consumption status. This study assesses the relationships of alcohol consumption status with basic daily activities among Chinese older adults.

Methods

A total of 5,133 participants aged 60 years or above from three waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (2009, 2012, and 2014) were analyzed. Independent ADL items included bathing, dressing, toileting, indoor moving, continence, and feeding (without others’ assistance). Multilevel ordered logistic regression model estimation was used to examine the results of total scores based on the Katz index. Multilevel logistic regression models also were estimated to study each index item separately to examine differences across each of the six ADLs. Additional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to examine the validity of the index.

Results

Preliminary CFA showed that most items had good factor loadings (>0.700), except for continence (0.256) and feeding (0.481). Based on the ordered regression model, former (AOR = 0.412, 95% CI: 0.294, 0.579, p < 0.001) and non-alcohol consumption (AOR = 0.598, 95% CI: 0.447, 0.800, p < 0.001) were negatively associated with the total score. Non-alcohol consumption status was negatively associated with ADL items separately (all ps < 0.05), with the exceptions of continence and feeding.

Conclusion

Alcohol consumption may be associated with Chinese older adults’ better ADLs. However, further clinical or experimental trials are needed to examine the impact of alcohol consumption on older adults’ ADLs.

Keywords:

• China
• older adults
• daily activity
• disability
• multilevel analysis
• alcohol consumption

Acknowledgments

Data used for this research were provided by the “Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey” (CLHLS) managed by the Center for Healthy Aging and Development Studies, Peking University. CLHLS is supported by funds from the U.S. National Institutes on Aging (NIA), China Natural Science Foundation, China Social Science Foundation, and United Nations Population Fund. We thank research participants and researchers for their efforts in collecting the CLHLS data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Authors of the present study did not receive any funding for publication of this research.