Women over 50, alcohol use and engagement with primary health care services: A systematic narrative review

Background: It is widely acknowledged that women over 50 are deemed invisible within society. Nowhere is this more evident than within the literature directly addressing alcohol use and related consequences. The World Health Organisation has identified 2020-2030 as the decade of ageing yet little is known about women over 50, their alcohol use and their use of primary healthcare services.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted on six databases; CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, EMBASE and Web of Science to identify literature on primary health care engagement of women 50 years and older (50+) who use alcohol. Titles and abstracts were reviewed and full texts were independently reviewed by two researchers. A narrative review and synthesis of the eligible studies produced common themes and key findings.

Results: After excluding 3822 articles, 13 articles were deemed eligible for the review. For this age cohort (50+), findings were 1) women who drink heavily were less likely than men to attend General Practitioners (GPs), moderate drinkers were most likely to attend cancer screening, 2) GPs were less likely to ask questions or discuss alcohol with women than with men, 3) GPs offered less advice on alcohol to women than to men, and 4) less women sought help for alcohol from their GP than men.

Conclusions: Whilst women 50+ are drinking more, their alcohol use is overlooked, underreported and insufficiently provided for in primary health. Older women deserve health equality and to be seen as valued rather than invisible beyond their child-bearing years.