# Understanding alcohol use and alcohol-related care among older adults with heart failure

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2023 · $287,138

## Abstract

Project Summary
Rates of alcohol use and misuse are increasing faster among older adults than among any other age group.
Simultaneously, the prevalence of heart failure (HF), a major cause of reduced lifespan and health span
among older adults, has also been increasing. It is possible that alcohol use and misuse exacerbate and
accelerate HF, both directly via biological mechanisms and indirectly by hindering the ability to engage in the
rigorous self-management required to avoid adverse health outcomes. If so, addressing alcohol use and
misuse among older adults with HF has the potential to substantially improve morbidity, mortality, and quality
of life for this population. Yet, despite these hypotheses, little is known about the effects of alcohol use and
misuse among older adults with HF nor about the alcohol-related care received by this population. The specific
aims of this application are to use rigorous causal inference and machine learning methods to 1) estimate the
relationships of alcohol use and misuse with HF self-management behaviors for the first time and 2) produce
less biased and more generalizable estimates of the relationships between alcohol use and misuse and
adverse HF outcomes, which are currently poorly understood. In addition, we will 3) characterize the quantity
and sources (venue, provider specialty, length of patient-provider relationship, provider participation in
Accountable Care Organizations) of documented alcohol-related care currently received by older adults with
HF. To accomplish these aims, we will utilize a linkage of two existing data sources: Medicare fee-for-service
claims and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal panel of 22,000+
older adults. The research will be accomplished by a strong team of experts in alcohol use and misuse,
cardiovascular conditions, aging populations, mental health care coordination, and analyses of Medicare
claims and HRS. This research has the potential to inform critically needed evidence-based guidelines for
clinical management of HF patients as well as future research developing interventions and policies that will
improve the delivery of alcohol-related care and overall health outcomes among this population. As such, it
helps advance NIAAA’s strategic goal of identifying and reducing alcohol’s influence on health and disease
throughout the lifespan. It also responds directly to NIAAA Notice of Special Interest NOT-AA-20-018
“Secondary Analyses of Existing Alcohol Research Data.”

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11165357
- **Project number:** 7R21AA031048-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Aryn Phillips
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $287,138
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2024-08-16 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11165357

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11165357, Understanding alcohol use and alcohol-related care among older adults with heart failure (7R21AA031048-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11165357. Licensed CC0.

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