BACKGROUND: There is evidence that low-level alcohol use, drinking 1 to 2 drinks on occasion, is protective for cardiovascular disease, but increases the risk of cancer. Synthesizing the overall impact of low-level alcohol use on health is therefore complex. The objective of this paper was to examine the association between frequency of low-level drinking and mortality. METHODS: Two data sets with self-reported alcohol use and mortality follow-up were analyzed: 340,668 individuals from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and 93,653 individuals from the Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient medical records. Survival analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between low-level drinking frequency and mortality. RESULTS: The minimum risk drinking frequency among those who drink 1 to 2 drinks per occasion was found to be 3.2 times weekly in the NHIS data, based on a continuous measure of drinking frequency, and 2 to 3 times weekly in the VA data. Relative to these individuals with minimum risk, individuals who drink 7 times weekly had an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause mortality of 1.23 (p < 0.0001) in the NHIS data, and individuals who drink 4 to 7 times weekly in the VA data also had an adjusted HR of 1.23 (p = 0.01). Secondary analyses in the NHIS data showed that the minimum risk was drinking 4 times weekly for cardiovascular mortality, and drinking monthly or less for cancer mortality. The associations were consistent in stratified analyses of men, women, and never smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The minimum risk of low-level drinking frequency for all-cause mortality appears to be approximately 3 occasions weekly. The robustness of this finding is highlighted in 2 distinctly different data sets: a large epidemiological data set and a data set of veterans sampled from an outpatient clinic. Daily drinking, even at low levels, is detrimental to one's health.
BACKGROUND: There is evidence that low-level alcohol use, drinking 1 to 2 drinks on occasion, is protective for cardiovascular disease, but increases the risk of cancer. Synthesizing the overall impact of low-level alcohol use on health is therefore complex. The objective of this paper was to examine the association between frequency of low-level drinking and mortality. METHODS: Two data sets with self-reported alcohol use and mortality follow-up were analyzed: 340,668 individuals from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and 93,653 individuals from the Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient medical records. Survival analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between low-level drinking frequency and mortality. RESULTS: The minimum risk drinking frequency among those who drink 1 to 2 drinks per occasion was found to be 3.2 times weekly in the NHIS data, based on a continuous measure of drinking frequency, and 2 to 3 times weekly in the VA data. Relative to these individuals with minimum risk, individuals who drink 7 times weekly had an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause mortality of 1.23 (p < 0.0001) in the NHIS data, and individuals who drink 4 to 7 times weekly in the VA data also had an adjusted HR of 1.23 (p = 0.01). Secondary analyses in the NHIS data showed that the minimum risk was drinking 4 times weekly for cardiovascular mortality, and drinking monthly or less for cancer mortality. The associations were consistent in stratified analyses of men, women, and never smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The minimum risk of low-level drinking frequency for all-cause mortality appears to be approximately 3 occasions weekly. The robustness of this finding is highlighted in 2 distinctly different data sets: a large epidemiological data set and a data set of veterans sampled from an outpatient clinic. Daily drinking, even at low levels, is detrimental to one's health.
Authors: Simona Costanzo; Augusto Di Castelnuovo; Maria Benedetta Donati; Licia Iacoviello; Giovanni de Gaetano Journal: J Am Coll Cardiol Date: 2010-03-30 Impact factor: 24.094
Authors: Danielle Frank; Anna F DeBenedetti; Robert J Volk; Emily C Williams; Daniel R Kivlahan; Katharine A Bradley Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2008-04-18 Impact factor: 5.128
Authors: Kenneth J Mukamal; Katherine M Conigrave; Murray A Mittleman; Carlos A Camargo; Meir J Stampfer; Walter C Willett; Eric B Rimm Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2003-01-09 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Angela M Wood; Stephen Kaptoge; Adam S Butterworth; Peter Willeit; Samantha Warnakula; Thomas Bolton; Ellie Paige; Dirk S Paul; Michael Sweeting; Stephen Burgess; Steven Bell; William Astle; David Stevens; Albert Koulman; Randi M Selmer; W M Monique Verschuren; Shinichi Sato; Inger Njølstad; Mark Woodward; Veikko Salomaa; Børge G Nordestgaard; Bu B Yeap; Astrid Fletcher; Olle Melander; Lewis H Kuller; Beverley Balkau; Michael Marmot; Wolfgang Koenig; Edoardo Casiglia; Cyrus Cooper; Volker Arndt; Oscar H Franco; Patrik Wennberg; John Gallacher; Agustín Gómez de la Cámara; Henry Völzke; Christina C Dahm; Caroline E Dale; Manuela M Bergmann; Carlos J Crespo; Yvonne T van der Schouw; Rudolf Kaaks; Leon A Simons; Pagona Lagiou; Josje D Schoufour; Jolanda M A Boer; Timothy J Key; Beatriz Rodriguez; Conchi Moreno-Iribas; Karina W Davidson; James O Taylor; Carlotta Sacerdote; Robert B Wallace; J Ramon Quiros; Rosario Tumino; Dan G Blazer; Allan Linneberg; Makoto Daimon; Salvatore Panico; Barbara Howard; Guri Skeie; Timo Strandberg; Elisabete Weiderpass; Paul J Nietert; Bruce M Psaty; Daan Kromhout; Elena Salamanca-Fernandez; Stefan Kiechl; Harlan M Krumholz; Sara Grioni; Domenico Palli; José M Huerta; Jackie Price; Johan Sundström; Larraitz Arriola; Hisatomi Arima; Ruth C Travis; Demosthenes B Panagiotakos; Anna Karakatsani; Antonia Trichopoulou; Tilman Kühn; Diederick E Grobbee; Elizabeth Barrett-Connor; Natasja van Schoor; Heiner Boeing; Kim Overvad; Jussi Kauhanen; Nick Wareham; Claudia Langenberg; Nita Forouhi; Maria Wennberg; Jean-Pierre Després; Mary Cushman; Jackie A Cooper; Carlos J Rodriguez; Masaru Sakurai; Jonathan E Shaw; Matthew Knuiman; Trudy Voortman; Christa Meisinger; Anne Tjønneland; Hermann Brenner; Luigi Palmieri; Jean Dallongeville; Eric J Brunner; Gerd Assmann; Maurizio Trevisan; Richard F Gillum; Ian Ford; Naveed Sattar; Mariana Lazo; Simon G Thompson; Pietro Ferrari; David A Leon; George Davey Smith; Richard Peto; Rod Jackson; Emily Banks; Emanuele Di Angelantonio; John Danesh Journal: Lancet Date: 2018-04-14 Impact factor: 202.731
Authors: Katherine M Keyes; Jonathan Platt; Caroline Rutherford; Megan E Patrick; Deborah D Kloska; John Schulenberg; Justin Jager Journal: SSM Popul Health Date: 2021-09-10
Authors: Joachim Ahlers; Christian Baumgartner; Mareike Augsburger; Andreas Wenger; Doris Malischnig; Nikolaos Boumparis; Thomas Berger; Lars Stark; David D Ebert; Severin Haug; Michael P Schaub Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2022-04-20 Impact factor: 7.076
Authors: Bhautesh Dinesh Jani; Ross McQueenie; Barbara I Nicholl; Ryan Field; Peter Hanlon; Katie I Gallacher; Frances S Mair; Jim Lewsey Journal: BMC Med Date: 2021-01-12 Impact factor: 8.775