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Studies on whether alcohol consumption benefits or harms heart health have yielded inconsistent results. To examine how alcohol consumption affects risk for mortality in U.S. adults, researchers linked data from the National Health Interview Surveys (1997–2009) to National Death Index records through 2011.
During a median follow-up of 8 years, almost 35,000 people died of any cause, including ≈8900 from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and ≈8400 from cancer-specific causes. Compared with lifetime abstainers, former drinkers had higher risks for all-cause, cancer, and CVD mortality, but after adjustment for lifestyle factors and clinical variables, the associations were no longer significant. Again compared with lifetime abstention, light or mode…