Skip Navigation

Retired men are more likely to be binge-drinkers, says study by Royal College of Surgeons

Paywall post:

More than half of men aged over 50 binge drink, while 22% of women over 50 engage in “heavy episodic drinking”, a study by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has found. Men who have retired are “significantly more likely” to binge drink, while both men and women with higher education levels are drinking more frequently.

The findings, based on data from 4,295 adults who took part in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, “suggest that older Irish adults remain vulnerable to alcohol-related harm”, researchers say. They found that while there was a decline in the average weekly consumption of alcohol by the over-50s, men and women drink more frequently.