S. Wouters et al., Is the apparent cardioprotective effect of recent alcohol consumption due to confounding by prodromal symptoms?, AM J EPIDEM, 151(12), 2000, pp. 1189-1193
Citations number
15
Categorie Soggetti
Envirnomentale Medicine & Public Health","Medical Research General Topics
Previous research has reported a protective association between alcohol dri
nking and acute coronary heart disease in the 24-hour period after drinking
. This study investigated whether this apparent protective association resu
lted from confounding due to the effect of prodromal symptoms on drinking b
ehavior. In 1992, the authors conducted a case-control study that measured
recent alcohol consumption and reasons for recent abstention from alcohol a
mong patients with acute coronary heart disease identified from a community
-based disease register and a representative control sample from the same c
ommunity (Auckland, New Zealand). Cases were significantly more likely than
controls to report recent abstention from drinking because they felt unwel
l. In unadjusted analyses, a protective association was observed between re
cent alcohol consumption and acute coronary heart disease; however, this as
sociation was weakened considerably after adjustment for the effect of prod
romal symptoms on drinking behavior. The previously reported protective ass
ociation between recent alcohol consumption and acute coronary heart diseas
e appears to be largely due to the confounding effect of prodromal symptoms
on drinking.