Alcohol consumption and risk for stroke among Chinese men.
OBJECTIVE
Stroke is a leading cause of death and long-term disability in China. The objective of this study was to examine the relation between alcohol consumption and risk for stroke among Chinese men.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective cohort study among 64,338 Chinese men aged > or = 40 years who were free of stroke at baseline. Data on frequency and type of alcohol consumed were collected at the baseline examination in 1991 using a standard protocol. Follow-up evaluation was conducted in 1999 to 2000, which included determining vital status, interviewing participants or proxies, and obtaining hospital and medical records for incident and fatal strokes.


RESULTS
Over the course of 493,351 person-years of follow-up, we documented 3,434 incident strokes (1,848 stroke deaths). After adjustment for age, body mass index, physical activity, urbanization (urban vs rural), geographic variation (north vs south), cigarette smoking, history of diabetes, and education, compared with nondrinkers, relative risk (95% confidence interval) of incident stroke was 0.92 (0.80-1.06) for participants consuming 1 to 6 drinks/week, 1.02 (0.93-1.13) for those consuming 7 to 20 drinks/week, 1.22 (1.07-1.38) for those consuming 21 to 34 drinks/week, and 1.22 (1.08-1.37) for those consuming 35 or more drinks per week (p for linear trend < 0.0001). The corresponding relative risks for stroke mortality were 0.93 (0.76-1.14), 0.98 (0.85-1.13), 1.15 (0.95-1.38), and 1.30 (1.11-1.52), respectively (p for linear trend = 0.0004; p for quadratic trend = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that heavy alcohol drinking may increase the risk for stroke in Chinese men and should be the target of strategies for prevention.
Bazzano
Lydia A
LA
Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112-2715, USA. lbazzano@tulane.edu
Gu
Dongfeng
D
Reynolds
Kristi
K
Wu
Xiqui
X
Chen
Chiung-Shiuan
CS
Duan
Xiufang
X
Chen
Jing
J
Wildman
Rachel P
RP
Klag
Michael J
MJ
He
Jiang
J
D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D044466:Asian People; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D018570:Risk Assessment; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality