Abstract 2808: Alcohol consumption and mortality in men and women in a large prospective cohort study
Authors: Park Yikyung , Freedman Neal , Abnet Christian , Pinkston Christina , Hollenbeck Albert , Schatzkin Arthur 
Published: February 2011

Previous studies have shown moderate drinking of alcohol to be inversely related to heart disease but heavy drinking directly associated with some cancers and other chronic diseases. Moreover, there has been some question about whether the relation between alcohol and health differs by sex. We therefore investigated alcohol consumption in relation to both total and cause-specific mortality in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health study, a large prospective cohort of men and women.

The NIH-AARP study recruited over 500,000 men and women, 50-71 years old and living in one of eight states in 1995-96. At baseline, we assessed diet including alcohol with a food frequency questionnaire and collected information on demographics, lifestyle, and medical history. Vital status and specific causes of death were ascertained through a periodic linkage of the cohort to the Social Security Administration Death Master File and the National Death Index Plus. We estimated relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for age, race, body mass index, marital status, self-rated health status, physical activity, smoking status, time since quitting smoking, smoking dose, aspirin use, menopausal hormone therapy use in women, and intakes of red meat and total energy. After excluding participants with prevalent cancer and chronic diseases, the analytic cohort consisted of 218,953 men and 168,660 women.

During an average of 9 years of follow-up, we identified a total of 20,081 deaths in men and 11,246 deaths in women. 18% of the men and 26% of the women did not drink alcohol, whereas 12% of the men drank 3+ drinks/day and 5% of women drank 2+ drinks/day. In men, compared to 2-0-&lt;2/wk, 4-&lt;7/wk, 1-&lt;2/day, 2-&lt;3/day, 3-&lt;6/day, and 6+/day were 1.23, 1.05, referent, 0.99, 0.99, 0.99, 1.17 and 1.35 for of total mortality; 1.09, 0.97, referent, 0.83, 0.83, 0.90, 1.11, and 1.15 for cardiovascular disease (CVD) death; and 1.19, 1.06, referent, 1.04, 1.04, 1.01, 1.17, and 1.34 for cancer death. In women, compared to 2-0-&lt;2/wk, 4-&lt;7/wk, 1-&lt;2/day, 2-&lt;4/day, and 4+/day were 1.20, 1.01, referent, 0.95, 1.06, 1.21, and 1.32 for total death; 1.48, 1.15, referent, 1.21, 1.07, 1.34, and 1.59 for CVD death; and 1.03, 0.96, referent, 0.85, 0.98, 1.18, and 1.30 for cancer death. Non-drinkers, compared to 2-&lt;4/wk drinkers, had increased risk of total and cancer death in men and total and CVD death in women. Among drinkers, men with &lt;3 drinks/day and women with &lt;2 drinks/day showed lowered risk of CVD death, but not of total and cancer death. Men consuming 3+ drinks/day and women consuming 2+ drinks/day had significantly increased risk of total, CVD and cancer death.

In conclusion, the effect of alcohol on mortality may differ by sex, disease and the amount consumed.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2808.