Alcohol consumption in young men and risk of heart failure and all-cause mortality- a cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Aim Wesought to study the association of alcohol consumption with the long-term risk of heart failure and all-cause mortality among adolescent men. Method We included 50 460 men (mean age 18.4 years; SD 0.72) that underwent enlistment for military service during 1968–1969. During this period, alcohol consumption was assessed with questionnaires as part of the enlistment protocol. Questionnaire data was transformed to grams of 100% ethanol/week and categorized as light (1–100 g/week), moderate (101–250 g/week), and high (>250 g/week). Follow-up was done through linkage to the nationwide Swedish patient- and cause of death registries. Risk of heart failure and all-cause mortality during follow-up was calculated with cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for age, conscription year, test centre, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, parental education, intelligence quotient, cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength, and baseline comorbidities (diabetes mellitus and hypertension). Results During a median follow-up of 51 years, there were 803 incidentheart failure events (mean age at diagnosis, 61 years) and 6254 deaths (mean age: 55 years). Compared with non-drinkers (0 g/week), the adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for light, moderate and high alcohol consumption were 2.34 (1.24–4.40), 2.38 (1.22–4.68), 5.60 (2.68–11.69) for incident heart failure (Figure 1, model 4)and 1.27 (1.04–1.54), 1.66 (1.35–2.05), 2.25 (1.74–2.91) for all-cause mortality,respectively. Conclusion Alcohol consumption in adolescence is strongly associated with heart failure and all-cause mortality in adulthood. Our results suggests that even light alcohol consumption in adolescence is associated with higher long-term risk of heart failure and mortality. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. Figure 1. *Model 1 adjusted for age at conscription, conscription year, test center, body mass index and baseline comorbidities (diabetes mellitus and hypertension). †Model 2 as model 1 but additionally adjusted for systolic and diastolic blood pressure at baseline. ‡Model 3 as model 2 but additionally adjusted for parental education. #Model 4 as model 3 but additionally adjusted for intelligence quotient, cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength.