Alcoholic beverages and myocardial infarction in young men

Previous studies have suggested that people who consume a moderate amount of alcohol have a reduced risk of coronary heart disease compared with nondrinkers. This hypothesis was further tested in the period April 1980-April 1983 in a study of 2,170 men with first nonfatal myocardial infarction and 981 hospital controls, all under 55 years of age. The relative risk estimate for men who drank between one and seven times per week compared with never drinkers was 1.2 (95% confidence interval, 0.8-1.8) when age and cigarette smoking were taken into account and 1.1 (0.7-1.7) when personality type was also taken into account. There was no evidence of a reduced risk for users who drank primarily one type of alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, or liquor) or within categories of dose measured in ounces consumed per week. The findings were not materially changed when other risk factors for myocardial infarction were taken into account. The results of this study suggest that moderate alcohol consumption does not reduce the risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction.