Heavy Drinkers Have Worse Health Care Habits

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More than 7,884 members participated the survey, which was conducted as a part of the study. The survey proved that the risky drinkers have the attitudes and practices that may adversely affect their long-term health and that people who drink at hazardous levels are less likely than the other categories of drinkers, to seek routine medical care.

Risky drinking was defined in three different ways to account for both short and long-term alcohol-related risks: 1) those who, on average, drank three or more drinks per day, 2) women who consumed four or more drinks during one sitting, or men who drank five or more drinks during one sitting and 3) people identified as at-risk drinkers using a commonly used screening tool.

The risky drinkers will be engaged in other behaviors, too - such as relieving stress with alcohol and cigarettes, not wearing seat-belts, unhealthy eating and not regularly seeing their doctors, that put their health at risk. So the physicians will be generally concerned about the patients' other health related practices in additional to the heavy drinking. Those factors include diet, exercise, stress management, sleep practices, seat belt use, income, education, obesity, as well as feelings about seeing the doctor, skepticism toward medical care, and attitudes about personal ability to influence health.

People who drank the most, will be less collaborative relationships with their doctors and are more likely to be reluctant going to the doctor. They will be less confident to change their own health-related practices and more likely to think that health is a matter of good fortune.

The study is the first to examine the relationship between drinking patterns and health, while taking into account a wide-range of other factors that might influence that relationship.

The study also says that moderate drinking is associated with the better health. People who drank one to three drinks daily, reported slightly better health than all other categories of drinkers, including life-long abstainers, former drinkers, light drinkers (less than one drink a day) and heavier drinkers (three or more drinks per day). People participated in the survey, who drank moderately were also more likely to have better health-related attitudes and practices, and more likely to seek routine medical care. The study proved that there is an independent relationship between moderate drinking and better self-assessed health.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study has been published in the journal Addiction Research & Theory.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.