XXXX use in a community-based sample of subjects aged 70 years and older.

@entity167 @entity1
The usual @entity167 intake in a community-based sample of subjects aged 70 years and over was investigated. A sample of 825 subjects was drawn from the records of five general practices in a rural township and 774 subjects (93.8%) agreed to participate. A stratified sub-sample of subjects from the abstainers, infrequent, weekly, and daily drinkers was subsequently investigated in more detail. @entity1 took @entity167 more frequently than @entity1 and in greater quantities although frequency and amount decreased with age. The usual place for drinking was the home. The highest use of psychotropic drugs occurred in the abstainers, but this was significant for @entity1 only. When compared with drinking patterns in middle age, 60.1% of @entity1 and 30.3% of @entity1 said that they took less @entity167 , while 7.4% of @entity1 and 11.1% of @entity1 said that they took more. The main reasons for decrease in @entity167 intake were change in health and fewer social opportunities. The main reasons for increase in @entity167 intake were more money and more time. Drinking was most commonly associated with social activities and few took @entity167 to help cope with personal situations.
