M-A | No significant health benefits found for low-volume alcohol intake
4 Apr, 2023 | 13:48h | UTCSummary: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the association between alcohol use and all-cause mortality, taking into account potential sources of bias. The study analyzed data from 107 cohort studies published between January 1980 and July 2021, which included 4,838,825 participants and 425,564 deaths.
The study found no significant reductions in all-cause mortality risk for drinkers who consumed less than 25 grams of ethanol per day compared to lifetime nondrinkers. However, there was a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality among female drinkers who drank 25 or more grams per day and male drinkers who drank 45 or more grams per day.
The analysis highlighted the importance of controlling for former drinker bias and misclassification errors and found sex differences in the risk of all-cause mortality.
In conclusion, the updated meta-analysis found no significantly reduced risk of all-cause mortality associated with low-volume alcohol consumption after adjusting for potential confounding factors. The study recommends that future longitudinal studies in this field should attempt to minimize lifetime selection biases by not including former and occasional drinkers in the reference group and by using younger cohorts at baseline.
Commentary: Drinking Alcohol Brings No Health Benefits, Study Finds – HealthDay
Related:
Prioritising action on alcohol for health and development – The BMJ