title: The effect of prevalent cardiovascular conditions on the association between alcohol consumption and mortality among older Mexican American men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between alcohol consumption and mortality among older Mexican American men, with and without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted survival analysis among 908 men aged 65-80 years from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), a longitudinal population-based study of older Mexican Americans who reside in the southwestern United States. Men were categorized into four alcohol-consumption groups: lifetime abstainers, former drinkers, low risk drinkers (< or =30 drinks/month and < or =3 drinks/occasion) and at-risk drinkers (>30 drinks/month or >3 drinks/occasion) and stratified into two groups: those with and those without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions. Mortality was ascertained from 1993-1994 to 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among participants without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, former, low risk, and at-risk drinkers had a lower risk for all-cause mortality compared to lifetime abstainers [HR: .70, 95% CI (.50-.99), .64 (.42-.97) and .60 (.40-.92), respectively]. There was no statistically significant association between mortality and any of the alcohol consumption groups among those with cardiovascular conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among older Mexican-American men without cardiovascular conditions, former and current drinkers had lower mortality compared to abstainers. No such associations were observed between alcohol use and mortality among those with cardiovascular conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Majd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: AlGhatrif
authors.forename: Kyriakos S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Markides
authors.forename: Yong-fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: Alison A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D015995:Prevalence; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000208:ethnology; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D016019:Survival Analysis