Association of self-reported health with alcohol consumption: a study conducted among Chinese and Canadian middle-aged and older adults

There has been lack of studies that examine the relationship between self-rated health (SRH) and alcohol consumption, particularly in middle-aged and older adult populations. This study aims to investigate association of SRH status with alcohol consumption in middle-aged and older adult populations. The study is a cross-sectional study design that was based on the China Health and Retired Longitudinal study (CHARLS) and the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Monitoring Survey (CADUMS) and the Canadian Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Survey (CTADS). Measure of health is SRH status and self-reported alcohol use. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to model the data and the odds ratio of self-reported excellent, very good, good and fair (versus poor) for current and former drinkers versus nondrinkers and current drinkers versus former drinkers was estimated in models after adjusting for covariates. This study found that in both Chinese and Canadian adult populations, current drinkers reported better health status than former drinkers; lifetime nondrinkers reported better health status than former drinkers. Current drinkers reported better health status than nondrinkers. Canadian moderate drinkers (1.3–44 g per day) tended to report better health compared with occasional drinkers and Chinese heavy drinkers (45 + grams per day) reported better health status compared with occasional drinkers in both populations. This study found current drinkers tended to have better health status than former drinker and lifetime nondrinkers in adult populations. Nondrinkers tended to report better health status than former drinkers. Low and medium drinkers reported better health status.