Psychosocial and Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Older Adults ?

 
Chapter 1: Introduction
Background
Alcohol and substance abuse among the elderly is emerging as a serious healthcare issue with the number rising from 1.7 million in 2000 and predicted to reach over 4.4 million people by the year 2020 (Chhatre, Cook, Mallik, & Jayadevappa, 2017). One of the possible causes of the rise in the number elderly people using alcohol and other drugs is the equal growth in the number of individuals aged over 50 years, with one study observing a double growth of this population between the year 2000 and 2007 (Chhatre et al., 2017). In another study, the elderly adults were identified among the fastest growing population with its share in the US population expected to reach over 20% by the year 2040 (Tadros, Mason, Davidov, Davis, & Layman, 2015). Between the year 2006 and 2011, the number of elderly [patients presenting to the emergency department for alcohol and drug-related disorders were over 1.6 million with approximately 66% of these patients being hospitalized for alcohol and substance-induced complications (Tadros et al., 2015). The burden of care and the medical costs from treating alcohol and substance-related disorders and complications have been overwhelming with financial estimations between 2006 and 2011