Alcohol Consumption and Long-Term Mortality in Men with or without a History of Myocardial Infarction

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Science
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Limited evidence exists on alcohol's long-term mortality impact on myocardial infarction (MI) survivors.
• Understanding alcohol's role in mortality for MI patients and the general male population is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between alcohol consumption and cause-specific/all-cause mortality in men.
• To specifically examine this association in male myocardial infarction survivors.

Main Methods:

• A cohort study followed 32,004 men without MI and 1,137 male MI survivors until 2009.
• Alcohol consumption was self-reported at baseline and five years.

Main Results:

• In MI survivors, 23-45 g/day of alcohol was linked to reduced coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality (HR 0.36).
• In men without MI, a U-shaped association was observed for CHD, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality with alcohol intake <23 or 23-45 g/day.
• Significant U-shaped associations were found for CHD, cardiovascular disease, other causes, and all causes (P-quadratic <0.001).

Conclusions:

• Consuming 23-45 g/day of alcohol is associated with lower CHD mortality in MI survivors.
• Similar associations were observed in men without a history of MI, suggesting a potential cardioprotective effect within this intake range.