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Drinking habits and death. The Yugoslavia cardiovascular disease study
Insights
Moderate alcohol consumption is linked to lower overall mortality, while heavy drinking and recent drunkenness increase risks for trauma and sudden cardiac death. The study highlights the complex relationship between drinking patterns and health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
- Cardiology
Background:
- Alcohol consumption is a significant factor in global mortality.
- Understanding the specific risks associated with different drinking patterns is crucial for public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD), trauma, liver cirrhosis, and cancer.
- To examine the impact of recent drunkenness versus usual alcohol intake on mortality risks.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study involving over 10,000 Yugoslav men.
- Data collected on alcohol consumption, including frequency and recent drunkenness.
- Follow-up for mortality from various causes, including CHD, trauma, liver cirrhosis, and cancer.
Main Results:
- An inverse relationship was observed between alcohol consumption and non-sudden death from CHD.
- A positive relationship was found between alcohol consumption and death from trauma, particularly in men under 55 who reported recent drunkenness.
- Alcohol consumption at entry was not related to liver cirrhosis or cancer mortality, but an enlarged liver was associated with higher liver cirrhosis death rates.
Conclusions:
- A U-shaped relationship exists between alcohol consumption and overall mortality, with moderate drinkers showing the lowest rates.
- Recent drunkenness, rather than the frequency of drinking, was associated with increased mortality from trauma, liver cirrhosis, and sudden CHD death.
- Both the pattern and level of alcohol consumption are significant determinants of mortality in this population.
Abstract:
In a prospective study of more than 10000 Yugoslav men it was found that consumption of alcoholic beverages was inversely related to non-sudden death from coronary heart disease (CHD) and positively related to death from trauma. The consequence was an apparently U-shaped relation between alcohol consumption and death, the lowest mortality being among moderate drinkers. Excess mortality from trauma was evident only among men under 55 and only for those who reported at entry to the study that they had been drunk during the preceding week. Alcohol consumption as reported at entry was unrelated to subsequent mortality from liver cirrhosis or any form of cancer. An enlarged liver, however, was associated with higher death rates for liver cirrhosis. This raises the possibility that some of the men were heavy drinkers preceding their entry to the study but were no longer drinking heavily at the time of entry. Enlarged liver, however, was also related to hypertension and to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and thus was not a specific indicator of alcohol abuse in this population. Recent drunkenness but not frequency of drinking was related to death from trauma and liver cirrhosis and to sudden CHD death. In short, both the pattern of drinking and the usual level of alcohol consumption appear to be related to mortality in this population.