Abstract
BackgroundWe investigated the association of alcohol consumption with cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality in elderly Chinese men.MethodsOur participants were recruited from residents living in a suburban town of Shanghai (≥60 years of age, n = 1702). Alcohol intake was classified as non-drinkers, past drinkers (stopped drinking for ≥12 months), and current light-to-moderate (1 to 299 g/week) and heavy drinkers (≥300 g/week). Alcoholic beverages were classified as beer/wine, rice aperitif and liquor/mix drinking.ResultsDuring 5.9 years (median) of follow-up, all-cause, cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular deaths occurred in 211, 98 and 113 participants, respectively. The corresponding incidence rates were 23.6/1000, 10.9/1000 and 12.6/1000 person-years, respectively. Both before and after adjustment for confounding factors, compared with non-drinkers (n = 843), past drinkers (n = 241), but not the current light-to-moderate (n = 241) or heavy drinkers (n = 377), had a higher risk of all-cause (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.35–2.68, P = 0.0003) and non-cardiovascular mortality (HR 2.46, 95% CI 1.55–3.91, P = 0.0001). Similar trends were observed for cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.44, 95% CI 0.85–2.44, P = 0.18). In similar unadjusted and adjusted analyses, compared with the current beer/wine drinkers (n = 203), liquor/mix drinkers (n = 142), but not aperitif drinkers (n = 273), had a significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 3.07, 95% CI 1.39–6.79, P = 0.006), and cardiovascular mortality (HR 10.49, 95% CI 2.00–55.22, P = 0.006). Similar trends were observed for non-cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.94, 95% CI 0.73–5.16, P = 0.18).ConclusionsOur study showed risks of mortality associated with past drinking and liquor drinking in the elderly Chinese men.
Highlights
There is consensus that alcohol intake at any quantity and of any class is detrimental [1]
Similar trends were observed for cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85–2.44, P = 0.18)
Similar trends were observed for non-cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.94, 95% CI 0.73– 5.16, P = 0.18)
Summary
There is consensus that alcohol intake at any quantity and of any class is detrimental [1]. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GDB) study, alcohol intake was associated with 5.3, 3.3 and 4.1% of increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and cancers worldwide, respectively. The corresponding increases in all-cause mortality and cancers in the Chinese population were 4.1 and 6.2%, respectively [2, 3]. In China, alcohol intake is a habit mainly in men and rarely in women, and alcoholic beverages include beer and wine as in other populations and rice aperitif and white spirit typically in the Chinese population [4]. According to a recent national survey, 29.8% of male drinkers drank heavily once a week or more and 83.6% of them drank heavily occasionally [5]. We investigated the association of alcohol consumption with cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality in elderly Chinese men
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