Predictors of alcohol misuse and abuse in older women.

Purpose: To determine the predictive ability of self-report questions, physical measures, and biomarkers to detect alcohol misuse and abuse among older women.

Design And Methods: Healthy women volunteers age 60 and older who fit selection criteria were enrolled. The 135 participants were divided into nondrinkers (ND; n = 63) and drinkers (D; n = 72) based on self-reports of quantity and frequency of standard drinks consumed per month.

Alcohol use, misuse, abuse, and dependence in later adulthood.

Considerable research has focused on alcohol problems in older adults, but the clinical utilization of this knowledge has lagged at least 3 decades behind the scientific developments. This unfortunate situation takes on added significance as the "baby boomer" generation ages because more of them drink more often in larger quantities than previous generations. This chapter focuses more on the ramifications of use, misuse, and abuse than on chronic dependence because the prevalence in the former categories far outweighs the latter.

The case for alcohol research as a focus of study by nurse researchers.

Sixty percent of the U.S. population drinks alcohol.

Outcomes of a program to enhance exercise self-efficacy and improve fitness in Black and Hispanic college-age women.

A quasi-experimental design was used to test the outcomes of an exercise program directed towards Black and Hispanic college-age women. Forty-four women (36 Black, 7 Hispanic, and 1 Black/Hispanic) attended exercise classes three times per week for 16 weeks. At program completion, women were classified as either high attendees (n = 26) or low attendees (n = 18).

The association between moderate drinking and heart rate variability in healthy community-dwelling older women.

The relationships among moderate alcohol use, autonomic tone, and arrhythmogenesis in older adults have not been adequately studied. Knowledge about these relationships is of increasing importance in light of population aging and recent epidemiological findings that associate moderate alcohol use with decreased rates of coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between moderate drinking and autonomic tone in older women.

A review of the second decade of the Annual Review of Nursing Research series.

This chapter includes a review of the second decade of Annual Review of Nursing Research, Volumes 11-20. The authors analyze the content of these volumes and summarize the significant changes in the nursing scientific community. Also described are the contextual changes related to the development of nursing research.

A theoretical model of the role of brain stem nuclei in alcohol-mediated arrhythmogenesis in older adults.

Uncertainty about the mechanism of alcohol-mediated arrhythmogenesis and the effect of alcohol use on arrhythmic risk among older adults is an increasing concern in light of population aging and recent reports that moderate alcohol consumption may protect older adults against coronary artery disease. In this review, a theoretical model of the role of brain stem nuclei in alcohol-mediated arrhythmogenesis in older adults is developed. The model is based on the hypothesis that the effects of alcohol on central autonomic pathways of cardiac control may alter the threshold for alcohol-mediated arrhythmogenesis among older adults.