Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality

A previous meta-analysis of the association between alcohol use and all-cause mortality found no statistically significant reductions in mortality risk at low levels of consumption compared with lifetime nondrinkers. However, the risk estimates may have been affected by the number and quality of studies then available, especially those for women and younger cohorts.

To investigate the association between alcohol use and all-cause mortality, and how sources of bias may change results. Data Sources: A systematic search of PubMed and Web of Science was performed to identify studies published between January 1980 and July 2021. Study Selection: Cohort studies were identified by systematic review to facilitate comparisons of studies with and without some degree of controls for biases affecting distinctions between abstainers and drinkers. The review identified 107 studies of alcohol use and all-cause mortality published from 1980 to July 2021. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Mixed linear regression models were used to model relative risks, first pooled for all studies and then stratified by cohort median age (0 to