@article{ref1,
title="How stable is the risk curve between alcohol and all-cause mortality and what factors influence the shape? A precision-weighted hierarchical meta-analysis",
journal="European journal of epidemiology",
year="2003",
author="Gmel, Gerhard and Gutjahr, Elisabeth and Rehm, Jürgen T.",
volume="18",
number="7",
pages="631-642",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of six determining variables on the shape of the risk curve between alcohol and all-cause mortality. DATA: Based on a systematic search with clear inclusion criteria, all articles on alcohol and all-cause mortality until 2000 were included. STATISTICAL METHODS: Precision-weighted pooling of relative risks (RRs); precision-weighted hierarchical analysis. VARIABLES: For pooling: RRs for different categories of average volume of drinking, lifetime abstainers and ex-drinkers. For hierarchical analysis: on first level: consumption in grams of pure alcohol per day; on second level: length of follow-up time in months; per capita consumption; average age, proportion of abstainers, average volume of drinking, and variability of average volume of drinking at baseline. OUTCOMES MEASURES: RR of former and current drinkers for all-cause mortality compared to abstainers. RESULTS: The main hypotheses could be confirmed for males: Ex-drinkers had a higher mortality risk than lifetime abstainers; the higher and the more diverse the average volume of alcohol consumption, the wider the dip of the curve; the older the persons at baseline, the more pronounced the protective effect; and the longer the follow-up time, the less pronounced the protective effect. Except for average volume of drinking effects for females went in the same direction but with one exception did not reach significance. CONCLUSIONS: There are systematic influences on the shape of the risk curve between alcohol and all-cause mortality. The overall beneficial effect of light to moderate drinking remained under all scenarios, indicating a high validity of the overall shape despite the heterogeneity between studies.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0393-2990",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}