title: Alcohol use and early mortality in Swedish middle-aged women: Nine-year follow-up of the Women's Health in Lund Area study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The majority of prospective studies on alcohol use and mortality risk indicate that non-drinkers are at increased risk of death compared to moderate drinkers. This article investigates the association between middle-aged women's alcohol use and mortality, controlling for socio-demographic and health variables. An association between alcohol use and hospital in-patient care is also analysed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Baseline data were collected during 1995-2000 in a population-based cohort of 6917 women aged 50-59 years living in southern Sweden, the Women's Health in Lund Area (WHILA). After 9 years, a register follow-up was performed from the National cause-of-death register and the Swedish hospital discharge register. Cox proportional hazards regression were used to analyse differences in survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the observation period, 201 (2.9%) women died. In a crude model, non-drinkers had a significantly increased risk for death. When including socio-demographic predictors in the model, there was a strong indication that non-drinkers were at increased risk for death compared to moderate drinkers. Adding health predictors, not drinking alcohol was no longer a risk factor for death. Further, analyses of in-patient care indicate that non-drinkers had poorer health during their entire adult life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study underlines the importance of including health status at base-line when prospectively studying the association between alcohol use and mortality, otherwise moderate alcohol consumption may appear more beneficial than is the case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences Lund - Psychiatry, Lund University, Sweden jenny.rundberg@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rundberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Samsioe
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences Lund - Psychiatry, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Öjehagen
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D061213:Mortality, Premature; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Alcohol; Sweden; middle aged; mortality; population; women