Worsening of health and a cessation or reduction in XXXX consumption to special occasion drinking across three decades of the life course.

@entity167 @entity1
BACKGROUND: Ex-drinkers suffer from worse health than drinkers; however, whether a worsening of health is associated with a change in drinking status from early adulthood has not been previously investigated. We assess whether a worsening of health is associated with a cessation in consumption or reduction to special occasion drinking from early adulthood to middle age. METHODS: Multinomial logistic regression assessing whether a change in self-reported limiting longstanding illness (LLI) was associated with ceasing @entity167 consumption, or a reduction to special occasion drinking compared with being a persistent drinker from age 23 in separate models at ages 33, 42, and 50. All models adjusted for sex, poor psychosocial health, education, marital status, and @entity1 in the household. Sample included @entity1 from Great Britain followed longitudinally in the National @entity1 Development Study from ages 23 to 33 (N = 5,529), 42 (N = 4,787), and 50 (N = 4,476). RESULTS: Developing an LLI from the previous wave was associated with ceasing @entity167 consumption at ages 33 (odds ratio [ORs] = 2.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16-4.93), 42 (OR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.24-4.81), and 50 (OR = 3.33, 95% CI = 1.56-7.12) and a reduction to special occasion drinking at ages 42 (OR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.40-2.99) and 50 (OR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.18-3.53). Having a persistent LLI across 2 waves increased the odds of ceasing consumption at ages 42 (OR = 3.22, 95% CI = 1.06-9.77) and 50 (OR = 4.03, 95% CI = 1.72-9.44) and reducing consumption to special occasion drinking at ages 33 (OR = 3.27, 95% CI = 1.34-8.01) and 42 (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.23-4.50). Persistent drinkers at older ages had the best overall health suffering less from previous poor health compared with those who reduced or ceased consumption at an earlier time point. CONCLUSIONS: Developing an LLI was associated with a cessation in @entity167 consumption and a reduction in consumption to special occasion drinking from early adulthood. Persistent drinkers who drank at least till 50 were the healthiest overall. Health selection is likely to influence nondrinking across the life course.
