The effects of alcohol consumption on mortality and morbidity: a 26-year follow-up study

To investigate the long-term effects of the consumption of alcohol on mortality and morbidity.

A sample of 32,185 (50.5% female) individuals was randomly selected from the 450,000 inhabitants of Stockholm County, Sweden, in 1969. Alcohol consumption data were obtained from postal questionnaires; response rate was 87% (n = 28,001). Data on mortality and morbidity were obtained from the National Cause of Death Register, the Cancer Register and the Inpatient Register 1971-1996.

The reference groups were moderate consumers of alcoholic beverages. High-consumption men had increased risks of mortality from cardiovascular diseases (relative risk ratio [RR] = 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-1.46), accidents or poisoning (RR = 2.10; CI: 1.67-2.65) and gastrointestinal diseases (RR = 4.65; CI: 2.93-7.36). High-consumption women had an increased risk of mortality only from accidents or poisoning (RR = 2.95; CI: 1.82-4.78) and gastrointestinal diseases (RR = 3.60; CI: 1.40-9.24). For low-consumption women, there was an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases (RR = 1.25; CI: 1.07-1.47). Low-consumption men also had an increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases (RR = 1.23; CI: 1.05-1.44). The results with respect to morbidity almost mirrored the results for mortality, with one exception; for low-consumption men, the morbidity from cardiovascular diseases was not increased.

The mortality and morbidity associated with different levels of alcohol consumption are associated with the same diseases, which suggests that alcohol may be one of the causative factors for these diseases. The reasons for the differences between genders, regarding responses to the negative effects of alcohol consumption, are still unknown.