Our second aim was to describe key aspects of older alcohol dependent subjects’ long-term demographic, health, and alcohol-related outcomes by age group. While it was not surprising that the overall number of reported medical disorders increased with age, as well as the specific types found to be significant (e.g., cancer), we did not expect that self-ratings of overall physical health would be similar for each age group. Such global ratings are subjective and therefore may be prone to biases of social desirability (e.g., a disinclination to complain). A separate paper, in preparation, will examine in detail the ages, causes, and baseline predictors of mortality in this sample. In contrast to physical health, the increase in positive mental health ratings with age is consistent with some prior research (Garrido et al., 2009).
