title: Prevalence of chronic diseases in alcohol abstainers.
abstract: We used data from the 1983 Italian National Health Survey, based on 58,462 adults ages 25 years and over who are representative of the general Italian population, to compare the prevalence of 16 major chronic diseases or groups of diseases in alcohol abstainers (ex- and never-drinkers combined) and current drinkers. We found elevated odds ratios among alcohol abstainers for diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, other heart diseases, anemias, gastroduodenal ulcer, cholelithiasis, liver cirrhosis, urolithiasis, and renal insufficiency.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Decarli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferraroni
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pagano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000437:Alcoholism; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution