A study of the relathonship between alcohol consumption and nonfatal myocardial infarction, involving 399 cases and 2486 reference subjects, indicated absence of any major overall association (rate ratio point estimate of 0.9 with 95% confidence limits of 0.6 and 1.2), but there was some evidence of a lower rate in subjects consuming six or more drinks per day (rate ratio point estimate of 0.6 with 95% confidence limits of 0.3 and 1.1). Confounding by several potential confounders was controlled by stratification according to a confounder-summarizing score.