Health-associated changes in drinking: a period prevalence study of the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) cohort (1987-1995).
BACKGROUND
Several investigators have suggested that drinking cessation occurs because of poor health which may bias studies on the benefit or risk of alcohol consumption.


METHODS
Drinking status, level of alcohol consumption, and two measures of health (perceived health and physician diagnosed chronic disease status) were determined from exams 1 (1987-1989) and 3 (1993-1995) on 12,562 African- and European-American participants, who were aged 45-64 years at exam 1 in the ARIC Study. For those in good health at exam 1, logistic regression analyses were used to model the association between health decline and drinking change at exam 3.


RESULTS
Among the total population, drinking cessation was significantly more common among those who reported poor health at exam 3, and nondrinkers were unlikely to begin drinking regardless of exam 3 health. Using different measures of health status resulted in associations whose strength and significance varied with ethnicity and, in some cases, by gender.


CONCLUSIONS
While the current data do not prove that the health decline occurred prior to drinking cessation, our findings support the hypothesis that poor health results in drinking changes which could potentially bias studies of alcohol's benefit and risk even when lifetime abstainers are used as the reference group.
Eigenbrodt
M L
ML
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27514, USA. meigenbr@sph.unc.edu
Fuchs
F D
FD
Hutchinson
R G
RG
Paton
C C
CC
Goff
D C
DC
Couper
D J
DJ
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology