Search

OBJECTIVES To examine associations between alcohol use and cognitive performance among older adults in Greece and the United States, and assess potential differences due to differing drinking practices in the two countries. METHODS Data came from Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD) and National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Dataset (NACC). We examined those aged 65-90 years at baseline who had no cognitive impairment and complete data for cognitive and alcohol use variables (N = 1110 from HELIAD; N = 2455 from NACC). We examined associations between current alcohol use and frequency of such use with cognitive performance on various cognitive tasks stratified by gender. RESULTS In NACC, use of alcohol was associated with better cognitive performance. Men drinkers performed better than non-drinkers on Trail A (standardized mean 0.07 vs. -0.24, p

INTRODUCTION: Psychoactive substance use may be risky for adults with functional impairments. This study investigates cannabis use and prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative (mis)use among adults aged ≥50 years reporting functional impairments in the U.S. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis of adults aged ≥50 years from the 2015–2019 cohorts of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates the prevalence of past-year medical and nonmedical cannabis use, and prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative use and misuse, according to the number of functional impairments reported. The adjusted odds of medical and nonmedical use or misuse of each substance in relation to any impairment, number of impairments, and specific impairments were estimated using logistic regression. Analyses were conducted in December 2020. RESULTS: Compared with those reporting no impairments, those reporting any impairment were more likely to report use of cannabis and (mis)use of prescription opioids and tranquilizers/sedatives (all p

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Cannabis use among older adults is increasing sharply in the United States. While the risks and benefits of cannabis use remain unclear, it is important to monitor risk factors for use, including low perception of harm. The objective of this study was to estimate recent national trends in perceived risk associated with cannabis use among older adults. DESIGN Trend analysis. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS A total of 18,794 adults aged 65 and older participating in the 2015-2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized individuals in the United States. MEASUREMENTS We estimated the prevalence of older adults who believe that people who smoke cannabis once or twice a week are at great risk of harming themselves physically and in other ways. This was examined across cohort years and stratified by demographic characteristics, diagnosis of chronic disease, past-month tobacco and binge alcohol use, and all-cause emergency department use. RESULTS Between 2015 and 2019, perceived risk associated with regular use decreased from 52.6% to 42.7%, an 18.8% relative decrease (p