How healthcare can better help older women with risky drinking
Official title: Role of Health Care in Addressing Unhealthy Alcohol Use and Disparities among Aging Women
Funded at Kaiser Foundation Research Institute · NIH-11132701 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses electronic health records to find ways healthcare can better help women aged 50 and older who drink in risky ways.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Kaiser Foundation Research Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Oakland, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | September 16, 2022 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $629,374 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AA030297-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11132701 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Women aged 50 or older who drink at risky or unhealthy levels and receive care within a large integrated health system are the ideal group for this work.
✕Less likely to help
Men, people younger than 50, and patients who receive care outside the included health system are unlikely to directly benefit from this project's specific findings.
What this research studies
From a patient's point of view, the team will analyze health records for about 1.3 million women age 50 and older in a large health system that routinely screens for alcohol use. They will link screening results with medical and psychiatric diagnoses, patient-reported behaviors, and health service visits from an NIAAA-funded alcohol registry. The study uses both quantitative data and qualitative methods to identify which subgroups of aging women face the biggest gaps in care and what barriers keep them from getting treatment. Findings will be used to suggest practical changes in primary care and other health services to reduce alcohol-related harms in older women.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to better screening, referral, and treatment strategies tailored to older women, reducing alcohol-related harms and improving co-occurring health conditions.
How similar studies have gone: Universal alcohol screening in primary care has identified risky drinking in other settings, but targeted research and interventions specifically for older women remain limited and relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Kaiser Foundation Research Institute
Oakland, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Campbell, Cynthia I — Kaiser Foundation Research Institute
- Study coordinator: Campbell, Cynthia I
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Alcohol use patterns, aging, and health in people with HIV
This grant looks at how unhealthy drinking affects aging and health problems in people living with HIV and how alcohol care might help them stay healthier longer.
-
Understanding how healthcare can help aging women with unhealthy alcohol use
This study is looking into the growing problem of unhealthy drinking habits among older women, especially those from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, to find better ways to help them get the support and treatment they need.
-
Biomarkers to detect recent heavy drinking in veterans
A doctor-scientist team is testing blood biomarkers to better identify recent excessive alcohol use in veterans so clinicians can screen, counsel, and care for those at risk.
-
Aging Well with HIV: Alcohol, Risk Reduction, and Education Center (AWAR3E)
A center at Yale is exploring how aging with HIV interacts with alcohol use to create inflammation and frailty, with the goal of finding biomarkers and potential treatments.
-
Understanding how heavy drinking and anxiety relate in emerging adults
This grant studies how heavy alcohol use and anxiety symptoms interact in young adults (ages 18–34) and what biological stress markers might reveal about that relationship.
-
Cognitive SuperAging: Exploring why some octogenarians stay sharp in memory
This NIH grant studies why a small group of people aged 80+ keep memory skills as good as much younger people, hoping to understand how to protect memory as we age.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.