Biomaterial Database

Ageing and recovery from alcoholism. 1987

G Nordström, and M Berglund

University of Lund, Sweden.

Fifty-five dependent (DSM-III) male alcoholics, chosen for good social adjustment, were personally followed up about 20 years after their first admission to hospital. The conditions of all the alcoholics were evaluated with a multidimensional diagnostic schedule when first admitted. At the follow-up, 11 were abstainers, 11 reported a change to social drinking via abstinence, and 10 reported a change to social drinking by gradual stages. Improvement after the age of 45 was mainly due to gradual change to social drinking. This type of improvement was in half of the cases attributed to a decreased tolerance for alcohol. In the present sample, there were no indications of any relationship between premature ageing and gradual change to social drinking. It is hypothesised that physiological processes of normal ageing with concomitant changes in reactions to alcohol may be of importance for remission from alcoholism in middle-aged and older alcoholics. The relationships of personality, social factors and the degree of alcohol-dependence to patterns of successful long-term adjustment are discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D005500	Follow-Up Studies	Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.	Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D000375	Aging	The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.	Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D000428	Alcohol Drinking	Behaviors associated with the ingesting of ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, including social drinking.	Alcohol Consumption,Alcohol Intake,Drinking, Alcohol,Alcohol Drinking Habits,Alcohol Drinking Habit,Alcohol Intakes,Consumption, Alcohol,Drinking Habit, Alcohol,Habit, Alcohol Drinking,Habits, Alcohol Drinking,Intake, Alcohol
D000437	Alcoholism	A primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic. (Morse & Flavin for the Joint Commission of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine to Study the Definition and Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alcoholism: in JAMA 1992;268:1012-4)	Alcohol Abuse,Alcoholic Intoxication, Chronic,Ethanol Abuse,Alcohol Addiction,Alcohol Dependence,Alcohol Use Disorder,Abuse, Alcohol,Abuse, Ethanol,Addiction, Alcohol,Alcohol Use Disorders,Chronic Alcoholic Intoxication,Dependence, Alcohol,Intoxication, Chronic Alcoholic,Use Disorders, Alcohol
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D012919	Social Behavior	Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual or group usually of the same species.	Sociality,Behavior, Social,Behaviors, Social,Social Behaviors
D013695	Temperance	Habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite, especially but not exclusively the consumption of alcohol.	Temperances