The association of alcohol consumption with self-reported illness in university students

Many reports over the years have indicated an association between alcohol consumption and infectious illness among chronic heavy drinkers; however, many patients in these studies have been chronically ill. Thus the question of whether alcohol can appreciably influence immunity in humans and affect the incidence of infectious diseases remains largely unanswered. For this study over 1,100 undergraduate students from a general education course at a large midwestern university were surveyed. Students were asked about their drinking habits and acute health problems. Analyses of their self-reports showed no increase in acute health problems or upper respiratory infections in students drinking between one and 21 drinks per week. However, students drinking 28 or more alcoholic drinks per week had significantly more health problems in the aggregate and those drinking more than 22 drinks per week had more upper respiratory infections than other students including nondrinkers. It was concluded that excessive alcohol intake increased the risk of respiratory infections and acute illnesses in these students, but more moderate alcohol consumption had little effect on the risk for these health problems.