Healthy Living as You Age (HLAYA)

July 10, 2009 updated by: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Preventing Harm From Alcohol Use in Older Adults

Older persons who drink can be vulnerable to negative consequences of drinking. This trial aims to prevent harm from alcohol use in older adults through a program of screening and brief advice followed up with several health education phone calls.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Approximately 50% of persons aged 65 years and older drink alcohol. Older persons are particularly susceptible to adverse consequences of drinking such as falls, depression, sleep disorders, stomach upset, hypertension, and alcohol/drug interactions. This is because of age-related changes in the body that affect how older persons react to alcohol and also because of the age-associated increases in illness and medication use.

In the current project we aim to see if screening and brief advice given to older risky drinkers in a physician's office followed by up to 3 health education phone calls may reduce their risks associated with alcohol use. We plan to use a newly developed and tested measure, the Comorbidity Alcohol Risk Evaluation Tool (CARET), to screen for older persons (aged 55 and older) whose use of alcohol alone or in combination with their illnesses, symptoms, and medication use may be causing them harm, or increasing their risk for harm. Persons whose responses on the CARET indicate they might be risky drinkers will be randomized to receive either a brief intervention to reduce their risks or usual care.

The intervention will have the following components:

A) At the time of the recruitment visit, all intervention group patients will receive:

  1. A personalized risk report;
  2. An educational booklet titled "Healthy Drinking as You Age";
  3. A drinking diary;
  4. Brief advice to reduce their drinking by their physicians;

B) After the recruitment visit, all intervention group patients will receive up to 3 telephone calls from a health educator. After each call, intervention group patients may choose to receive a letter updating their health risks. Also, at the conclusion of their interaction with the health educator, they may choose to have a letter summarizing the calls sent to their physician.

At the time of the recruitment visit, control group patients will receive a booklet on a variety of healthy behaviors titled "Healthy Living as You Age." Both control and intervention group patients will receive a telephone call from a research associate 3 months and 12 months after initial enrollment in the study to administer the CARET again.

We will analyze our results to look for differences between the intervention and control groups at 12 months in the a) proportions of them identified as risky drinkers by the CARET; b) the amount they drink; c) the numbers of risks identifying those persons who are still risky drinkers and d) the difference in their expectations regarding aging.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

631

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90024
        • UCLA Department of Medicine, Geriatrics Research Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

55 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At least 55 years of age
  • Seeing a participating physician (internists or family physicians employed at any of the participating sites)
  • Have had at least one alcoholic drink in the last week

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Too ill to participate
  • Have received substance abuse services in past 3 months

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Reducing at-risk drinking
Time Frame: 12 month
12 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Reducing alcohol use
Time Frame: 12 month
12 month
Reducing the number of risks among those still considered at-risk drinkers.
Time Frame: 12 month
12 month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alison A. Moore, MD, MPH, UCLA DOM-Geriatrics

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 19, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 19, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

September 21, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 13, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 10, 2009

Last Verified

July 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NIAAA-MOO-013937
  • NIH Grant 5 RO1 AA 013937

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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