Drinking and Mortality

The relation of alcohol consumption to mortality was examined in a cohort of 1,910 employed men aged 38-55 years, enrolled in the Albany Study, a prospective investigation of factors related to cardiovascular disease. Two follow-up periods were examined, one between 1953-1954 and 1971-1972 and the other after 1971-1972. In both periods, there was a positive relation between the rate of alcohol consumption and noncoronary heart disease death, not assignable to any specific cause. Coronary heart disease death was not associated with drinking during the initial follow-up but was negatively associated with drinking in the later follow-up. All-cause mortality was positively associated with alcohol consumption in the earlier follow-up, because of the greater cigarette use among drinkers, but not in the later follow-up. There was a significant positive relation of drinking to deaths from liver cirrhosis and diabetes but not to deaths from motor vehicle accidents.