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 causespecific 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 selfadministered 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.