Average volume of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, and all-causemortality: Results from the US national alcohol survey

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an average vo lume of alcohol consumption and drinking patterns on all-cause mortality. T he sample (n = 5,072) was drawn from the 1984 National Alcohol Survey, repr esentative of the US population living in households. Follow-up time was un til the end of 1995, with 532 people deceased during this period. The autho rs found a significant influence of drinking alcohol on mortality with a J- shaped association for mates and an insignificant relation of the same shap e for females, When the largest categories of equivalent average Volume of consumption were divided into people with and without heavy drinking occasi ons, serving as an indicator of drinking pattern, this differentiation prov ed important in predicting mortality. Light to moderate drinkers had higher mortality risks when they reported heavy drinking occasions (defined by ei ther eight drinks per occasion or getting drunk at least monthly). Similarl y, when the category of exdrinkers was divided into people who did or did n ot report heavy drinking occasions in the past, people with heavy drinking occasions had a higher mortality risk. Finally, indicating alcohol problems in the past was related to higher mortality risk. Results emphasized the i mportance of routinely including measures of drinking patterns into future epidemiologic studies on alcohol-related mortality.