Biomedical subjects

P L Brennan

Publications and source records attributed to P L Brennan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Older adults' health and changes in late-life drinking patterns.

This study focused on the prospective associations between older adults' health-related problems and their late-life alcohol consumption and drinking problems. A sample of 1,291 late-middle-aged community residents (55-65 years old at baseline) participated in a survey of health and alcohol consumption, and was followed one year, four years, and 10 years later. Health-related problems increased and alcohol consumption and drinking problems declined over the 10-year interval. Medical conditions, physical symptoms, medication use, and acute health events predicted a higher likelihood of abstinence and less frequent and lower alcohol consumption. However, overall health burden predicted more subsequent drinking problems, even after controlling for alcohol consumption and a history of heavy drinking and increased drinking in response to stressors. Among older adults, increased health problems predict reduced alcohol consumption but more drinking problems. Older adults with several health problems who consume more alcohol are at elevated risk for drinking problems and should be targeted for brief interventions to help them curtail their drinking.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

A ten-year follow-up of older former problem drinkers: risk of relapse and implications of successfully sustained remission.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the risk, predictors of relapse and the effects of successfully sustained remission on the drinking behavior, functioning, life context, coping and help seeking of older adults who were problem drinkers earlier in life. METHOD: Older former problem drinkers (n = 447) were prospectively followed for 10 years and compared to lifetime nonproblem drinkers. RESULTS: Of former problem drinkers, 31% (n = 141) died over the 10-year interval, a rate 1.6 times higher than that of lifetime nonproblem drinkers. Among surviving former problem drinkers, although relapse was relatively uncommon (11%), a less severe drinking history, heavier baseline alcohol consumption, and lower baseline income were associated with relapse. The majority (63%) of former problem drinkers who successfully achieved sustained remission continued to drink alcohol, though at levels below those consumed by older lifetime nonproblem drinkers (n = 339). Stably remitted problem drinkers who were abstinent (SRAs) generally reported more severe drinking histories, greater functioning and life context deficits and more help seeking than did stably remitted problem drinkers who were nonabstinent (SRNs). Although SRAs and SRNs both experienced improvements in functioning over the 10-year interval, they continued to experience financial, health-related and life context deficits relative to older lifetime nonproblem drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest there are long-term costs associated with earlier drinking problems, even when remission is maintained. Both current drinking behavior and drinking history are worth considering when making recommendations regarding older adults' alcohol consumption.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Predictors and outcomes of outpatient mental health care: a 4-year prospective study of elderly Medicare patients with substance use disorders.

BACKGROUND: Many elderly inpatients have substance use disorders; recent treatment guidelines suggest that they should receive regular outpatient mental health care after discharge from hospital. OBJECTIVE: The prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of outpatient mental health care obtained by elderly Medicare patients with substance use disorders were examined. RESEARCH DESIGN: A longitudinal prospective follow-up was performed. SUBJECTS: Data from Medicare Provider Analysis and Review Record and Part B Medicare Annual Data were used to identify elderly inpatients with substance use disorders (n = 4,961) and determine their outpatient mental health care 4 years following hospital discharge. RESULTS: Only 12% to 17% of surviving elderly substance abuse patients received outpatient mental health care in each of 4 years after discharge. Cumulatively over 4 years, approximately 18% of surviving patients obtained diagnostic/evaluative mental health services, 22% obtained psychotherapy, and 9% received medication management. Of patients who obtained outpatient mental health care, 57% made 10 or fewer outpatient mental health visits over the entire 4 years. Younger, non-black, and female patients were more likely to obtain mental health outpatient care, as were patients with prior substance-related hospitalizations, dual diagnoses, and fewer medical conditions. Prompt outpatient mental health care was predictively associated with higher likelihood of mental health readmissions and, among patients with drug disorders, lower mortality. CONCLUSION: Very few elderly Medicare substance abuse patients obtain outpatient mental health care, perhaps because of health or economic barriers.

Aftercare↗

PubMed2001

Successful remission of late-life drinking problems: a 10-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine (1) the rate and predictors of long-term remission among a sample of untreated late-life problem drinkers and (2) whether successfully remitted older problem drinkers attain levels of functioning and life contexts comparable to those of lifetime nonproblem drinkers at a 10-year follow-up. METHOD: We compared 140 older baseline problem drinkers who were successful in achieving long-term remission to 184 baseline problem drinkers whose drinking problems did not remit over the course of 10 years and to 339 lifetime nonproblem drinkers, on functioning and life contexts at baseline and at 4- and 10-year follow-ups. RESULTS: Being female, having more recent onset of drinking problems, fewer and less severe drinking problems, friends who approved less of drinking, and drinking less and drinking less frequently at baseline predicted long-term remission. In many regards, long-term remitted problem drinkers attained levels of functioning and life context similar to those of lifetime nonproblem drinkers. However, remitted problem drinkers continued to report more incipient drinking problems, depressive symptoms, health and financial stressors, psychoactive medication use, reliance on avoidance coping strategies and less social support from friends than did lifetime nonproblem drinkers at the 10-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: About a third (30%) of an untreated sample of late-life problem drinkers succeeded in attaining stable, long-term remission. The functioning and life contexts of untreated remitted problem drinkers improved significantly over time; however, some deficits persisted at follow-up.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2000

Elderly Medicare inpatients with substance use disorders: characteristics and predictors of hospital readmissions over a four-year interval.

OBJECTIVE: (1) To describe the characteristics and 4-year readmissions of elderly Medicare inpatients with substance use disorders; (2) to determine whether their readmissions are elevated relative to case controls'; and (3) to examine gender differences in characteristics and predictors of readmissions among elderly inpatients with substance use disorders. METHOD: Health Care Financing Administration Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data were used to identify elderly patients with substance use disorders and their case controls, and to determine patient characteristics and readmissions over a 4-year interval following hospital discharge. RESULTS: Of elderly inpatients with substance use disorders (N = 22,768), 37% were women, 11% were black, 22% had previous, substance-related hospitalizations, 14% had concomitant psychiatric disorders and 9% had accident-related diagnoses. Among surviving patients with substance use disorders (N = 12,417), 73% were rehospitalized, a higher rate than among case controls (69%). Women with substance use disorders were more likely to have a psychiatric or accident diagnosis at the index episode than were men with substance use disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Many women and a disproportionate number of blacks constitute elderly Medicare inpatients with substance use disorders. These patients often have prior substance-related hospitalizations, psychiatric comorbidities, and accidents involving poisoning, adverse drug reactions and falls. They make costly, relatively heavy use of inpatient health services. Elderly women with substance use disorders may benefit from treatment that focuses on their psychiatric disorders and accident risk. Diagnostic information available at discharge can be used to identify patients at higher risk for subsequent rehospitalization and to plan treatment accordingly.

Aged↗

PubMed1999

Reciprocal relations between stressors and drinking behavior: a three-wave panel study of late middle-aged and older women and men.

AIM: To examine reciprocal relations between stressors and drinking behavior among late-middle-aged and older women and men. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A community sample of 621 women and 941 men (mean age = 61) provided information about their life stressors and drinking behavior at three times: initial assessment, 1 year later and 4 years later. Structural equation modeling with manifest variables was used to examine cross-temporal relations between stressors and drinking behavior. FINDINGS: Stressors did not predict heavier or more frequent drinking. In fact, among women, increased health stressors predicted a reduction of alcohol consumption; among men, increased financial stressors suppressed alcohol consumption. Higher stressor levels in some life domains did foreshadow later drinking problems. More initial drinking problems resulted in more subsequent financial and spouse stressors for both women and men. Contrary to expectation, more frequent alcohol consumption presaged fewer negative life events, health stressors, and financial stressors for women, and fewer health stressors for men. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that among older adults there may be a harmful feedback cycle whereby problematic drinking and life stressors exacerbate each other, but also a benign feedback cycle in which moderate alcohol consumption and life stressors reduce each other.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1998

Predicting the development of late-life late-onset drinking problems: a 7-year prospective study.

There has been little empirical study of risk factors for the development of late-life late-onset drinking problems. In the current prospective study, we compare two groups of older adults who, at a baseline assessment, were nonproblem drinkers: individuals who developed drinking problems over the course of the next 7 years (n = 77) and those who did not (n = 197). Late-onset problem drinkers reported mild to moderate drinking problems and spontaneous remission rates were high. Compared with stable nonproblem drinkers, late-onset problem drinkers at baseline were more likely to report incipient problems, heavier alcohol consumption, greater friend approval of drinking, more reliance on avoidance coping strategies, were more likely to smoke, and were less likely to have acute medical conditions that could potentially be complicated by alcohol consumption. Contrary to expectation, life stressors did not predict drinking problem onset. However, compared with stable nonproblem drinkers, late-onset problem drinkers were more likely to have a history of responding to stressors and negative affect with increased alcohol consumption.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Social context, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms: an expanded model with cardiac patients.

This research broadened and refined a resources model of coping to encompass negative as well as positive aspects of social relationships and examined this expanded conceptualization in a 4-year prospective model with 183 cardiac patients (140 men and 43 women). Social support and social stressors in the family and extrafamily domains contributed significantly to a common social context latent construct. In addition, this conceptualization of social context was significantly related to depressive symptoms 4 years later. Especially important conceptually, coping strategies functioned as a mechanism through which both social support and social stressors related to subsequent depressive symptoms. Moreover, positive and negative aspects of social relationships made essentially unique contributions in predicting subsequent coping efforts.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1996

Late-life problem drinking: personal and environmental risk factors for 4-year functioning outcomes and treatment seeking.

Recent research emphasizes the importance of identifying older problem drinkers. However, very little is known about the longitudinal course and predictors of late-life problem drinking. This prospective study of late-life problem drinkers (N = 581) focused on predictors of alcohol consumption, drinking problems, depression, and treatment seeking over a 4-year interval. Heavier baseline alcohol use and being male independently predicted more alcohol consumption 4 years later; more baseline drinking problems and early-onset status independently predicted more drinking problems at follow-up. Independent of other factors, more initial depressive symptoms and chronic health stressors portended more depressive symptoms at follow-up. Individuals who initially sought more treatment, and who had more chronic health and spouse stressors at baseline, were more likely to seek help 4 years later. Heavier reliance on avoidance coping strategies heightened the risk that stressors and friends' approval of drinking would lead to more drinking problems at follow-up. However, for individuals who had more drinking problems at baseline, such environmental risk factors as negative health events and friend stressors predicted fewer subsequent drinking problems.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1996

Alcohol consumption, life context, and coping predict mortality among late-middle-aged drinkers and former drinkers.

This study examined mortality risk for individuals in four alcohol consumption categories and identified life context and coping factors that independently predicted mortality among late-middle-aged drinkers and former drinkers (n = 1869). Compared with light drinkers, former drinkers (current abstainers) were at increased mortality risk; moderate drinkers were at decreased risk. Consistent with previous research on older samples, heavy drinkers were not at increased risk. Abstainers' increased risk was reduced in a model that controlled for life context and coping factors. Other independent predictors of mortality included reporting an illness stressor, stressor severity, less participation in activities with friends, greater use of resigned acceptance and alternative rewards coping, and less use of cognitive avoidance and emotional discharge coping. The findings support previous research on the alcohol-mortality relationship among older adults, and highlight the fact that abstainers' life stressors and avoidance coping responses may be more important predictors of their mortality than their abstention.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1995

Program characteristics and readmission among older substance abuse patients: comparisons with middle-aged and younger patients.

Older substance abuse patients were compared to middle-aged and younger patients before, during, and after an index episode of inpatient care in 1 of 88 substance abuse treatment programs. Associations between program characteristics and readmission rates adjusted for key differences in the types of patients in different programs varied by age group. Among older patients, more structured program policies, more flexible rules about discharge, more comprehensive assessment, and more outpatient mental health aftercare were associated with lower casemix-adjusted readmission rates. More intensive treatment was associated with higher-than-predicted readmission. By contrast, among younger patients, more family involvement in assessment and treatment, community consultation, and treatment emphasizing the development of social and work skills were associated with lower casemix-adjusted readmission rates. The findings suggest that intensive, directed treatment may be more effective for younger substance abuse patients, whereas a more supportive treatment regimen in a well-organized program and prompt outpatient aftercare may be especially helpful for older patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Depression and drinking behavior among women and men: a three-wave longitudinal study of older adults.

This 3-wave longitudinal study analyzed latent variable cross-lagged models of the relation between depressive symptoms and drinking behavior separately for 621 late-middle-aged women and 951 late-middle-aged men. Time lags of 1 and 3 years were used. Among women, heavier alcohol consumption predicted less depressive symptomatology 1 and 3 years later, whereas among men, having more depressive symptoms predicted less alcohol consumption later on. Including cross-temporal paths in the women's depression-drinking problems model did not provide a significant improvement over hypothesizing no cross-temporal effects. Among men, however, having more drinking problems was associated with fewer depressive symptoms 3 years later. These findings were robust in follow-up analyses controlling for the effects of socioeconomic and health status.

Aged↗

PubMed1995

Social support, coping, and depressive symptoms in a late-middle-aged sample of patients reporting cardiac illness.

This study tests a 1-year predictive model of depressive symptoms in a late-middle-aged sample of patients reporting diagnoses of cardiac illness. Results based on 325 individuals (248 men and 77 women) diagnosed with chronic cardiac illness, 71 individuals (52 men and 19 women) diagnosed with acute cardiac illness, and 219 healthy controls (129 men and 90 women) strongly supported the hypotheses. Compared with healthy persons, individuals with chronic and those with acute cardiac illness reported more depressive symptoms at follow-up. Women overall showed more depressive symptoms than did men, and women with cardiac illness were particularly vulnerable to behavioral manifestations of depressive symptoms. Integrative time-lag and prospective structural equation models indicated that, for individuals with cardiac illness, social support and adaptive coping strategies predicted fewer depressive symptoms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Personal and environmental risk factors as predictors of alcohol use, depression, and treatment-seeking: a longitudinal analysis of late-life problem drinkers.

We examined how personal risk factors (prior functioning, male, unmarried, early onset of drinking problems, and avoidance coping) and environmental risk factors (negative life events, chronic stressors, and friends' approval of drinking) predicted changes in older problem drinkers' (N = 659) adaptation over a 1-year interval. Personal risk factors independently predictive of poorer outcomes included poorer prior functioning, being male, and more use of avoidance coping strategies. Of environmental risk factors, negative life events, chronic health and spouse stressors, and having more friends who approved of drinking were independent predictors of poorer follow-up functioning and treatment seeking. Interactions between personal and environmental risk factors helped predict subsequent alcohol consumption and treatment seeking. For example, lighter drinkers were more likely than heavier drinkers to curtail alcohol use in response to new health events; friends more strongly influenced the treatment seeking of unmarried problem drinkers and individuals who used more avoidance coping strategies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Remission of late-life drinking problems: a 4-year follow-up.

This 4-year follow-up study compared stably remitted late-life problem drinkers to nonremitted problem drinkers and nonproblem drinkers. At time 1, to-be-remitted drinkers reported less alcohol consumption and fewer drinking problems, more depression and less self-confidence, less spousal support and approval of drinking from friends, and more help-seeking than did to-be-nonremitted drinkers. Remitted drinkers showed improvement in functioning and life context at the 4-year follow-up, but compared with nonproblem drinkers some deficits persisted. Stable remission and abstinence among late-onset drinkers were closely tied to receiving less spousal support and approval from friends for drinking at time 1, whereas help-seeking was a strong predictor of stable remission and abstinence among early-onset problem drinkers. For both late- and early-onset drinkers, abstinence was predicted by initially having more drinking problems, depression, and health stressors.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Mortality rates and predictors of mortality among late-middle-aged and older substance abuse patients.

This study describes mortality rates and predictors of mortality among late-middle-aged and older (55+) substance abuse inpatients (n = 21,139) in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers in the 4 years after an index episode of care. A total of 24% of the patients died; this mortality rate was 2.64 times higher than expected. Predictors of earlier mortality included older age and nonmarried status, alcohol psychosis and organic brain disorder diagnoses, and several medical diagnoses, including neoplasms, liver cirrhosis, respiratory, endocrine and metabolic, and blood system disorders. Three proxy indicators of illness severity also predicted mortality: more prior inpatient and outpatient medical care and an index episode in an extended care unit. In contrast, more prior outpatient mental health care and remitted status predicted lower mortality. These diagnostic and treatment indicators can be used to identify patients at heightened risk for premature mortality. Moreover, they show that intensive mental health aftercare and remission of substance abuse may delay mortality, even among older patients who have longstanding substance abuse problems.

Aged↗

PubMed1994

Diagnostic subgroups and predictors of one-year re-admission among late-middle-aged and older substance abuse patients.

This naturalistic study uses data based on clinical records to examine treatment utilization and 1-year re-admission rates among three diagnostic subgroups of late-middle-aged and older substance abuse inpatients in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers: inpatients with only an alcohol or drug dependence diagnosis (n = 11,652); inpatients with an alcohol or drug psychosis (n = 3,510); and inpatients with an alcohol or drug disorder and a concomitant psychiatric disorder (n = 5,977). As expected, substance abuse patients in the latter two subgroups received more treatment before, during and following an index episode of care than did patients with only an alcohol or drug dependence diagnosis. From a broad perspective, these results indicate a match between treatment services and patient needs. However, relatively few older substance abuse patients received outpatient mental health aftercare; this was true especially of patients with alcohol or drug psychosis diagnoses. The 1-year re-admission rate in the group overall was higher than that usually reported in younger and mixed-age groups of substance abuse patients. Re-admission was predicted by unmarried status (a predisposing factor) and need, as indexed by several diagnostic and treatment characteristics.

Aged↗

PubMed1994

Rates and predictors of four-year readmission among late-middle-aged and older substance abuse patients.

This naturalistic study examines treatment, diagnoses and readmission among late-middle-aged and older (age 55+) substance abuse inpatients (N = 16,066) in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Over an interval extending from 4 years before to 4 years after an index episode of care, older substance abuse patients used substantial amounts of inpatient and outpatient treatment. Service use was heaviest among patients with a concomitant psychiatric disorder, and there was no evidence that it declined over time in the overall group. Four-year readmission rates in three diagnostic subgroups (alcohol or drug dependence diagnosis only, alcohol or drug psychoses, substance dependence and/or psychoses with one or more psychiatric diagnoses) were very high (57% to 70%); however, they were somewhat lower among patients with less chronic substance abuse problems. Readmission and multiple readmission were predicted by younger age, unmarried status, more prior service use, alcohol psychosis or psychiatric diagnoses, treatment in a psychiatric unit, and shorter hospital stay. These factors may be used at admission and discharge to identify patients at risk for rehospitalization; inpatient treatment and aftercare can be planned accordingly.

Age Factors↗