Alcohol Affects Elderly Women More Than Elderly Men

A new study done by researchers at Harvard Medical School finds that elderly women are more likely than elderly men to suffer heart damage due to moderate alcohol consumption. The results of the study are published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.

Through the use of cardiac imaging techniques, researchers analyzed the hearts of 4,466 elderly people with the average age of 76. They saw that the more elderly people drank, greater changes occurred in the heart. However, they found that gender greatly affects how much change occurs. Women who drank just one drink a day had more heart reductions than men who drank two or more drinks a day.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, elderly people are more affected by alcohol than others. Their bodies metabolize the alcohol differently, and as they age they may not realize they can’t handle as much as they used to. This can cause many adverse reactions in the body, including heart changes.

These findings challenge results of many other studies that claim one drink a day is good for the heart. What makes this study unique compared to the other studies done on drinking and the heart is the age of the participants. This study only tested elderly people, compared to the other studies who tested middle-aged people.