Alcohol consumption in relation to cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality in an elderly male Chinese population

Background We investigated the association of alcohol consumption with cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality in elderly Chinese men. Methods Our 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. Results During 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). Conclusions Our study showed risks of mortality associated with past drinking and liquor drinking in the elderly Chinese men.

Automated summary

Our study found associations between past drinking and liquor drinking with increased risks of mortality in elderly Chinese men.