Alcohol Consumption and Long-Term Mortality in Men with or without a History of Myocardial Infarction

Aims: The evidence for the impact of alcohol consumption on long-term mortality among myocardial infarction (MI) survivors was limited. We aimed to examine whether alcohol consumption was associated with cause-specific and all-cause mortality in men with or without a history of MI. Methods: A total of 32,004 men aged 40-79 years with no history of MI and 1,137 male MI survivors, free of stroke and cancer, were followed through the end of 2009. Alcohol consumption was assessed using self-administered questionnaires at baseline and five years. Results: In MI survivors, consuming 23-45 g/day of alcohol was associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality compared to never drinkers: the multivariable hazard ratio was 0.36 (95% confidence interval: 0.16-0.80). In non-MI men, a 10-26% lower risk was observed at ＜23 or 23-45 g/day with the U-shaped association for CHD, cardiovascular disease, other causes, and all causes (P-quadratic ＜0.001). Conclusion: Alcohol consumption of 23-45 g/day was associated with a lower CHD mortality in MI survivors as so in men without MI.