Alcohol and mortality: is there a U-shaped relation in elderly people?
OBJECTIVE
to assess the relation between alcohol intake and mortality among seven cohorts of middle-aged and elderly Danes.


METHODS
Prospective population study with baseline assessment of alcohol- and tobacco consumption, educational level and body mass index, and a mean of 11.5 years follow-up of mortality.


METHODS
16304 men and women aged 50 years or more.


METHODS
number and time of deaths from 1974 to 1995 as ascertained by the national central person register.


RESULTS
the effect of alcohol intake on mortality did not differ between middle-aged (50-64 years, mean = 56.6 years) and elderly subjects (>64 years old, mean = 69.9 years). There was a U-shaped risk function in both age groups, which persisted also when adjusting for age, sex, smoking habits, level of education and body mass index. Abstaining women had a relative risk of 1.29 (95% confidence limits 1.17-1.42) as compared with light drinkers (1-6 (drinks per week), while the relative risk for abstaining men was 1.22 (95% confidence limits; 1.08 to 1.37) as compared with light drinkers. Heavy drinking women (>28 drinks per week) had a relative risk of 1.23 (95% confidence limits; 0.85 to 1.78) and heavy drinking men (more than 69 drinks per week) had a relative risk of 2.11 (95% confidence limits 1.66-2.69), both compared with light drinkers.


CONCLUSIONS
among the middle-aged and elderly women and men, a light alcohol intake is associated with lower mortality than abstention or heavy drinking.
Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital.
M
M
Grønbaek
A
A
Deis
U
U
Becker
H O
HO
Hein
P
P
Schnohr
G
G
Jensen
K
K
Borch-Johnsen
T I
TI
Sørensen
D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk