ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION AND STROKE MORTALITY - 20-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF 15077MEN AND WOMEN

Background and Purpose Since stroke is a principal cause of death in e lderly people, we analyzed the association between alcohol and stroke mortality in a cohort of 15 077 middle-aged and older men and women. M ethods Data on alcohol habits were obtained from a questionnaire in 19 67. The subsequent 20 years yielded 769 deaths from stroke, of which 5 74 were ischemic. Relative mortality risks (RR) were estimated from lo gistic regression analyses with lifelong alcohol abstainers as a refer ence group. Adjustments were made for age and smoking. Results No asso ciation was found between alcohol intake and hemorrhagic stroke. An el evated risk of ischemic stroke was found for men who drank infrequentl y, that is, a few times a year or less often (RR, 2.0; 95% confidence interval [cr], 1.3 to 3.2), for those who were intoxicated now and the n (RR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.8), and for those who reported ''binge'' drinking a few times in the year or less often (RR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1 t o 2.5). Among women only ex-drinkers had an elevated risk of dying of ischemic stroke (RR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.5 to 7.2). The risk was reduced fo r women who had an estimated average consumption of 0 to 5 g purr alco hol per day (RR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0,5 to 0.8); for those who did not drink every day (RR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.9); and for those who never ''we nt on a binge'' (RR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.8) or became intoxicated (R R, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.9). Conclusions Drinking habits were associat ed only with deaths from ischemic stroke, and the risk patterns were d ifferent for men and women. In analyses, ex-drinkers should not be inc luded with lifelong abstainers, since the former tend to run high heal th risks.