Lower Mortality in Moderate Drinkers VS Abstainers Result of Poor Study Design
RESULTS: Without adjustment, meta-analysis of all 87 included studies replicated the classic J-shaped curve, with low-volume drinkers (1.3-24.9 g ethanol per day) having reduced mortality risk (RR = 0.86, 95% CI [0.83, 0.90]). Occasional drinkers (<1.3 g per day) had similar mortality risk (RR = 0.84, 95% CI [0.79, 0.89]), and former drinkers had elevated risk (RR = 1.22, 95% CI [1.14, 1.31]). After adjustment for abstainer biases and quality-related study characteristics, no significant reduction in mortality risk was observed for low-volume drinkers (RR = 0.97, 95% CI [0.88, 1.07]). Analyses of higher-quality bias-free studies also failed to find reduced mortality risk for low-volume alcohol drinkers. Risk estimates for occasional drinkers were similar to those for low- and medium-volume drinkers.
CONCLUSIONS: Estimates of mortality risk from alcohol are significantly altered by study design and characteristics. Meta-analyses adjusting for these factors find that low-volume alcohol consumption has no net mortality benefit compared with lifetime abstention or occasional drinking. These findings have implications for public policy, the formulation of low-risk drinking guidelines, and future research on alcohol and health.
Notes:
The studies fail to take into account that many abstainers are former alcoholics who are biased toward ill health.
Folksonomies: longevity alcohol consumption
Taxonomies:
/health and fitness (0.284354)
/health and fitness/disease (0.207095)
/health and fitness/disease/cholesterol (0.177539)
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Entities:
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Concepts:
Alcohol (0.985369): dbpedia_resource
Alcoholism (0.714241): dbpedia_resource
Scientific method (0.612313): dbpedia_resource
Drinking culture (0.533729): dbpedia_resource