Alcohol Use and Its Associations With Frailty, Fractures, and Falls Among Older Adults With HIV.

Abstract

Purpose: More than half of people with HIV (PWH) in the United States are now over age 50. Although alcohol consumption declines with age among PWH, as it does in the general population, alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) pose substantial health risks. Aging leads to increased sensitivity to alcohol due to slower metabolism, central nervous system changes, less lean body mass, greater prevalence of co-occurring medical conditions, and polypharmacy (simultaneous use of multiple medicines). These vulnerabilities heighten the adverse effects of alcohol use among older PWH compared with both younger PWH and people without HIV of all ages. This review examines associations between alcohol use and three interrelated health outcomes of growing research interest-frailty, fractures, and falls-each of which has substantial negative impacts on longevity and quality of life among PWH and may be influenced by alcohol use.

Search methods: Search terms included alcohol, drinking, binge drinking, heavy drinking, AUD, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, problematic alcohol use, mild/moderate alcohol use, high-intensity drinking, risky drinking, alcoholism, frailty, falls, fractures, HIV, PWH, PLWH, ART, and AIDS. All studies included PWH age 50 and over. In June 2024, authors identified original studies published in English between June 1, 2014, and June 1, 2024, by searching PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect and reviewing reference lists of reviews and meta-analyses identified in the search.

Search results: Searches yielded a total of 512 articles; 114 duplicates were removed. Two independent reviewers screened the abstracts of the remaining 398 articles, of which 326 articles were excluded based on having inappropriate sampling, exposures, or outcome measures. Seventy-two articles underwent full-text review; of these, 14 articles met inclusion criteria and 58 articles were excluded. Reasons for exclusion were wrong outcomes (n = 12), no drinking or alcohol quantification (n = 15), wrong population (n = 8), outside of timeframe (n = 3), not in English (n = 2), wrong frailty measure (n = 9), and review/meta-analysis (n = 9).

Discussion and conclusions: Results across the 14 studies indicated that, among older PWH, greater alcohol use was linked to higher risk of frailty, fractures, and falls. However, evidence was limited, with most literature based on observational studies. Important future potential research directions include longitudinal assessments of alcohol-frailty relationships among PWH age 50 and over; evaluating the role of alcohol use in the development and progression of frailty accounting for mid- and later-life comorbidity and resultant polypharmacy; and examining moderators of the alcohol-frailty relationship. Future research examining interventions to reduce risk of frailty, fractures, and falls among aging PWH also would be beneficial.