Cohort studies of consumption of specific types of alcoholic drink and relative risk of coronary heart disease
| Wine | Beer | Spirits | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study | Consumption | Relative risk (95% confidence interval) | Consumption | Relative risk (95% confidence interval) | Consumption | Relative risk (95% confidence interval) | Comment |
| Yano et al 1977,19 Kagan et al 198120 | |||||||
| 7591 Men aged 46-68 (190 deaths from myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease in 6 years follow up) in Honolulu heart study | ml/day*: | ml/day*: | ml/day*: | Adjusted for age, drink types not simultaneously adjusted for | |||
| 0 1 >/=2 | 1.0+ 0.67+ 0.71 (NS)+ | 0 1-299 >/=300 | 1.0+ 0.74+ 0.57 (P<0.001)+ | 0 1-2 >/=3 | 1.0+ 0.93+ 0.71 (NS)+ | ||
| Kozarevic et al 198021 | |||||||
| 11 121 Men aged 35-62 | No of drinks/day: | No of drinks/day: | No of drinks/day (weak rakija, 30% alcohol): | Adjusted for age, drink types not simultaneously adjusted for | |||
| (estimated 166 with non-fatal myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease in 7 years follow up) in Yugoslavia | <1 >/=1 | 1.0+ 0.7 (NS)+ | <1 >/=1 | 1.0+ 0.6 (NS)+ | <1 >/=1 | 1.0+ 0.8 (NS)+ | |
| No of drinks/day (strong rakija, 40% alcohol): | |||||||
| <1 | 1.0+ | ||||||
| >/=1 | 0.6 (NS)+ | ||||||
| Salonen et al 198322 | |||||||
| 4063 Men aged 30-59 (209 with acute myocardial infarction in 7 years follow up) in eastern Finland | Negligible consumption | No of bottles/week: | No of drinks/week: | Adjusted for age, smoking, serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, blood pressure | |||
| <5 >/=5 | 1.0 0.8 (0.5 to 1.4) | <1 >/=1 | 1.0 0.3 (0.1 to 0.7) | ||||
| Kittner et al 198323 | |||||||
| 9150 Men aged 35-79 (164 died from coronary heart disease in 8 years follow up, 306 died in 12 years follow up) in Puerto Rico heart health program | Negligible consumption | Beer and spirits combined (drinkers v non-drinkers): Sudden coronary heart disease: Non-sudden coronary heart disease: | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.0) 0.7 (0.4 to 1.0) | Alcohol intake assessed by single 24 hour recall; adjusted for age, smoking, exercise, location of residence | |||
| Non-fatal myocardial infarction: | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.0) | ||||||
| Friedman et al 198624 | |||||||
| 2106 Men aged 30-59 (24 year follow up) in Framingham heart study | No of drinks/day in non-smokers++: | No of drinks/day in non-smokers++: | No of drinks/day in non-smokers++: | Adjusted for systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol concentration, haemoglobin concentration, left ventricular hypertrophy, relative weight | |||
| 0 2 | 1.0) 0.25 (P=0.07) | 0 2 | 1.0 0.49 (P=0.15) | 0 2 | 1.0 0.66 (P=0.21) | ||
| Stampfer et al 198825 | |||||||
| 87 526 Women aged 34-59 (200 with fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction in 4 years follow up) in nurses' health study | Total alcohol (g/day): | Total alcohol (g/day): | Total alcohol (g/day): | Adjusted for family history of coronary heart disease, menopause, hormone replacement therapy, age, smoking, body mass index, hypertension, high cholesterol concentration, exercise, intake of dietary fat and cholesterol | |||
| 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 1.0 | ||
| <5 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | <5 | 0.3 (0.2 to 0.8) | <5 | 1.1 (0.7 to 1.8) | ||
| >/=5 | 0.4 (0.2 to 0.8) | >/=5 | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.6) | >/=5 | 0.7 (0.4 to 1.3) | ||
| Rimm et al 199126 | |||||||
| 44 059 Men aged 40-75 (350 with fatal or non-fatal heart disease or revascularisation in 2 years follow up) in health professionals follow up study | No of drinks/day&: | No of drinks/day&: | No of drinks/day&: | Adjusted for family history of coronary heart disease; smoking; age; body mass index; profession; diabetes; hypertension; high cholesterol concentration; intake of dietary fat, fibre, and cholesterol | |||
| 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 1.0 | ||
| 2 | 0.98 (0.64 to 1.50) | 2 | 0.80 (0.54 to 1.18) | 2 | 0.55 (0.39 to 0.77) | ||
| Farchi et al 199227 | |||||||
| 1563 Men aged 45-64 (166 died Quintiles of mean alcohol intake Alcohol consumption mainly or from cardiovascular disease in 15 years follow up) in Italian rural cohorts study | (g/day): | exclusively wine | Adjusted for age, smoking, and occupation. Men with prevalent cardiovascular disease at baseline were excluded | ||||
| 22.7 | 1.0 | ||||||
| 56.4 | 0.77 (0.34 to 1.76) | ||||||
| 77.8 | 0.67 (0.29 to 1.58) | ||||||
| 108.2 | 1.31 (0.64 to 2.66) | ||||||
| 164.7 | 1.61 (0.79 to 3.31) | ||||||
| Klatsky et al 1992,3 1993,28 1990,29 198630 | |||||||
| 129 170 Men and women (600 died from coronary heart disease in 7 years follow up) in Kaiser Permanente study | No of drinks/week@: | No of drinks/week@: | No of drinks/week@: | Adjusted for age, race, sex, smoking, body mass index, marital status, education | |||
| <2 | 1.0 | <2 | 1.0 | <2 | 1.0 | ||
| >/=2 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.7) | >/=2 | 0.7 (0.5 to 0.9) | >/=2 | 0.6 (0.5 to 0.8) | ||
| Gronbaek et al 199531 | |||||||
| 7217 Women and 5633 men aged 30-70 (1119 died from coronary heart disease in 12 year follow up) in Copenhagen city heart study | Drinks#: | Drinks#: | Drinks#: | Age, smoking, sex | |||
| Never | 1.0 | Never | 1.0 | Never | 1.0 | ||
| Monthly | 0.69 (0.62 to 0.77) | Monthly | 0.79 (0.69 to 0.91) | Monthly | 0.95 (0.85 to 1.06) | ||
| Weekly | 0.53 (0.45 to 0.63) | Weekly | 0.87 (0.75 to 0.99) | Weekly | 1.08 (0.93 to 1.26) | ||
| 1-2 Daily | 0.47 (0.35 to 0.62) | 1-2 Daily | 0.79 (0.68 to 0.91) | 1-2 Daily | 1.16 (0.98 to 1.39) | ||
| 3-5 Daily | 0.44 (0.24 to 0.80) | 3-5 Daily | 0.72 (0.61 to 0.88) | 3-5 Daily | 1.35 (1.00 to 1.83) | ||
↵* Consumption of alcohol calculated as consumption of each drink type without conversion to alcohol. In this population consumption of wine and spirits was small compared with beer: average monthly consumption was 1-2 glasses of wine, 1-2 glasses of spirits, and 22 12 oz glasses of beer.20
↵+Relative risks (age adjusted) derived from rates of coronary heart disease for each category of alcohol consumption divided by rate for abstainers.
↵++Alcohol content per drink was defined as 4 oz for wine (16.75% alcohol), 8 oz for beer (5% alcohol), and 2 oz for spirits (50% alcohol). We calculated relative risks from published
ß coefficients from a Cox proportional hazards model which accounted for all three drink types simultaneously.24
↵&Drinks of each type defined as a 4 oz glass of wine (10.8 g alcohol), a 12 oz glass of beer (13.2 g alcohol), and a shot of spirits (15.2 g alcohol).
↵@The amount of alcohol per drink was not defined.
↵#Drinks defined to contain 12 g alcohol on average.
1 oz alcohol=28.3 g.
NS=Non-significant.