Reasons why people change their alcohol consumption in later life: findings from the Whitehall II Cohort Study.

Harmful alcohol consumption among the ageing population is an important public health issue. Very few studies ask drinkers why they change their consumption in later life. The aim of this paper was to determine whether a group of people aged over 60 years increased or decreased their alcohol consumption over the past decade and to determine the reasons for their change. We also examined whether the responses varied by age, sex and socio-economic position (SEP)