Table 2.
Percentage distributions of key demographics and other characteristics, by drinking pattern, among adults ages 50 and older, United States, National Health Interview Survey, 2004–2013
| Lifetime Abstainers (n = 31,142) |
Former Drinkers (n = 28,546) |
Low-Risk Drinkers (n = 51,504) |
Increased-Risk Drinkers (n = 10,515) |
Highest-Risk Drinkers (n = 4,385) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 66.5 (0.1) | 65.6 (0.1) | 62.7 (0.1) | 58.8 (0.1) | 59.5 (0.1) |
| Male gender (%) | 27.4 (0.3) | 50.2 (0.4) | 47.5 (0.3) | 67.4 (0.6) | 70.2 (0.9) |
| Hispanic ethnicity (%) | 12.5 (0.3) | 7.9 (0.2) | 6.6 (0.2) | 9.3 (0.4) | 5.5 (0.4) |
| Race (%) | |||||
| White | 76.6 (0.4) | 83.7 (0.3) | 88.7 (0.2) | 89.6 (0.4) | 90.2 (0.5) |
| Black | 14.1 (0.4) | 12.5 (0.3) | 7.7 (0.2) | 7.6 (0.3) | 7.5 (0.5) |
| Other | 9.2 (0.3) | 3.8 (0.2) | 3.5 (0.1) | 2.8 (0.2) | 2.4 (0.3) |
| Education (%) | |||||
| Less than high school | 26.5 (0.4) | 23.9 (0.3) | 9.5 (0.2) | 12.0 (0.4) | 13.5 (0.6) |
| High school | 32.8 (0.3) | 33.8 (0.4) | 26.5 (0.3) | 27.9 (0.5) | 28.6 (0.8) |
| Some college | 21.1 (0.3) | 25.0 (0.3) | 28.5 (0.2) | 29.4 (0.6) | 29.8 (0.9) |
| College and above | 18.0 (0.3) | 16.6 (0.3) | 35.1 (0.4) | 30.4 (0.7) | 27.8 (0.9) |
| Employment/Occupation (%) | |||||
| Never worked | 13.5 (0.3) | 4.2 (0.2) | 2.3 (0.1) | 1.3 (0.1) | 1.3 (0.2) |
| No job past 12 months | 49.5 (0.4) | 57.0 (0.4) | 39.3 (0.3) | 28.4 (0.6) | 35.6 (0.9) |
| White-collar job | 12.7 (0.3) | 12.6 (0.3) | 27.1 (0.3) | 26.8 (0.6) | 22.0 (0.8) |
| Service job | 15.2 (0.3) | 14.6 (0.3) | 20.0 (0.2) | 21.5 (0.5) | 19.6 (0.8) |
| Blue-collar/other job | 8.6 (0.2) | 11.4 (0.2) | 11.2 (0.2) | 22.0 (0.5) | 21.5 (0.8) |
| Marital status (%) | |||||
| Married | 57.0 (0.4) | 57.7 (0.4) | 66.6 (0.3) | 65.8 (0.6) | 62.1 (0.9) |
| Widowed | 22.9 (0.3) | 17.0 (0.3) | 10.5 (0.2) | 6.2 (0.2) | 6.1 (0.4) |
| Divorced | 9.6 (0.2) | 14.0 (0.2) | 12.6 (0.2) | 15.0 (0.4) | 16.5 (0.6) |
| Separated | 2.0 (0.1) | 2.1 (0.1) | 1.6 (0.1) | 2.1 (0.1) | 2.2 (0.2) |
| Never married | 6.6 (0.2) | 6.1 (0.2) | 5.4 (0.1) | 6.0 (0.2) | 5.8 (0.4) |
| Living with partner | 1.6 (0.1) | 2.9 (0.1) | 3.1 (0.1) | 4.9 (0.3) | 7.1 (0.5) |
| Functional limitation (%) | 55.1 (0.4) | 64.1 (0.4) | 46.9 (0.3) | 42.2 (0.6) | 46.0 (1.0) |
| Health problem that requires special equipment (%) | 16.9 (0.3) | 20.3 (0.3) | 8.7 (0.2) | 5.9 (0.3) | 7.5 (0.5) |
| Self-reported health status (%) | |||||
| Excellent | 14.7 (0.3) | 11.1 (0.2) | 23.4 (0.3) | 24.4 (0.5) | 22.4 (0.9) |
| Very good | 24.6 (0.3) | 23.2 (0.3) | 34.4 (0.3) | 34.1 (0.6) | 31.3 (0.9) |
| Good | 33.2 (0.3) | 33.6 (0.3) | 29.0 (0.2) | 28.8 (0.5) | 30.7 (0.9) |
| Fair | 19.3 (0.3) | 22.0 (0.3) | 10.3 (0.2) | 10.2 (0.4) | 11.7 (0.6) |
| Poor | 8.1 (0.2) | 10.1 (0.2) | 2.9 (0.1) | 2.5 (0.2) | 3.9 (0.4) |
| Smoking status (%) | |||||
| Current every-day smoker | 6.6 (0.2) | 15.6 (0.3) | 11.5 (0.2) | 21.1 (0.5) | 33.1 (0.9) |
| Current some-day smoker | 1.3 (0.1) | 2.2 (0.1) | 2.7 (0.1) | 5.2 (0.2) | 4.5 (0.4) |
| Former smoker | 14.4 (0.3) | 42.4 (0.4) | 36.7 (0.3) | 39.4 (0.6) | 38.5 (0.9) |
| Never smoker | 77.5 (0.3) | 39.6 (0.4) | 48.9 (0.3) | 34.3 (0.6) | 23.8 (0.8) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 27.8 (0.1) | 28.5 (0.1) | 27.7 (0.0) | 28.0 (0.1) | 26.9 (0.1) |
| Frequency of doing physical activities to strengthen muscles (times per week) | 0.47 (0.01) | 0.63 (0.02) | 1.02 (0.02) | 1.07 (0.03) | 1.10 (0.06) |
| Frequency of doing light/moderate physical activities (times per week) | 1.84 (0.03) | 2.19 (0.03) | 2.87 (0.04) | 2.95 (0.05) | 3.03 (0.10) |
| Frequency of doing vigorous physical activities (times per week) | 0.76 (0.02) | 0.90 (0.02) | 1.49 (0.02) | 1.73 (0.04) | 1.65 (0.06) |
| # times in hospital emergency room, past 12 month | 0.36 (0.01) | 0.44 (0.01) | 0.25 (0.00) | 0.24 (0.01) | 0.25 (0.01) |
Standard errors are in parentheses.
Numbers may not add to full sample due to missing data.
Differences among drinking patterns are significant for all covariates at the 0.01 level based on adjusted Wald F tests.