Residual Effects: Young Adult Diagnostic Drinking Predicts Late-Life Health Outcomes

Objective:This study examined the residual effects of young adult diagnostic drinking on health outcomes four decades later in late life. Results were differentiated by drinking status during midlife.Method:A subsample of Vietnam Era Twin Registry members, all of whom had a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol dependence, was grouped according to life span drinking patterns as assessed by the Lifetime Drinking History interview in 2001. Those drinking at diagnostic levels (endorsing three or more alcohol dependence symptoms) before age 30 were then grouped based on their midlife drinking status (i.e., drinking at diagnostic levels vs. at minimal [nonsymptomatic] levels throughout midlife). Linear (or logistic) regression models were used to examine the association between life span drinking patterns and health outcomes in late life (about age 64).Results:Those who drank at diagnostic levels in young adulthood and in midlife exhibited significant health liabilities on every late-life health measure; those who dra...