Even Low-Risk Alcohol Consumption Ups Mortality Risk in Older Adults

High-risk drinking tied to higher all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Even low-risk drinking is associated with higher mortality among older adults, according to a study published online Aug. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

Rosario Ortolá, M.D., Ph.D., from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and colleagues examined the association between alcohol consumption patterns with 12-year mortality. Analysis included data from 135,103 participants (≥60 years) in the U.K. Biobank.

The researchers found that high-risk drinking was associated with higher all-cause (hazard ratio [HR], 1.33), cancer (HR, 1.39), and cardiovascular (HR, 1.21) mortality, compared with occasional drinking, while moderate-risk drinking was associated with higher all-cause (HR, 1.10) and cancer (HR, 1.15) mortality. Low-risk drinking was associated with higher cancer mortality (HR, 1.11). Among those with socioeconomic risk factors, low-risk and moderate-risk drinking patterns were associated with higher mortality from all causes (low risk: HR, 1.14; moderate risk: HR, 1.17) and cancer (low risk: HR, 1.25; moderate risk: HR, 1.36). There were small protective associations for a wine preference (>80 percent of alcohol from wine) and drinking with meals, especially from cancer, but only in drinkers with socioeconomic or health-related risk factors and was associated with attenuating the excess mortality associated with high-, moderate- and even low-risk drinking.

“This cohort study identified inequalities in the detrimental health outcomes associated with alcohol that should be addressed to reduce the high disease burden of alcohol use,” the authors write.