Alcohol use and mortality in older men and women.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the effect of alcohol intake on 10-year mortality for men and women over the age of 65 years.


METHODS
Two prospective cohorts of community-dwelling men aged 65-79 years at baseline in 1996 (n = 11 727) and women aged 70-75 years in 1996 (n = 12 432).


METHODS
Alcohol was assessed according to frequency of use (number of days alcohol was consumed per week) and quantity consumed per day. Cox proportional hazards models were compared for men and women for all-cause and cause-specific mortality.


RESULTS
Compared with older adults who did not consume alcohol every week, the risk of all-cause mortality was reduced in men reporting up to four standard drinks per day and in women who consumed one or two drinks per day. One or two alcohol-free days per week reduced this risk further in men, but not in women. Similar results were observed for deaths due to cardiovascular disease.


CONCLUSIONS
In people over the age of 65 years, alcohol intake of four standard drinks per day for men and two standard drinks per day for women was associated with lower mortality risk. For men, the risk was reduced further if accompanied with 1 or 2 alcohol-free days per week.
Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. kieran.mccaul@uwa.edu.au
Kieran A
KA
McCaul
Osvaldo P
OP
Almeida
Graeme J
GJ
Hankey
Konrad
K
Jamrozik
Julie E
JE
Byles
Leon
L
Flicker
D000059:Accidents / Q000401:mortality; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000401:mortality*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014505:Urban Population