TY - JOUR PY - 2013// TI - Reduction of drinking in problem drinkers and all-cause mortality JO - Alcohol and alcoholism A1 - Rehm, J. A1 - Roerecke, M. SP - 509 EP - 513 VL - 48 IS - 4 N2 - Alcohol consumption has been linked with considerable mortality, and reduction of drinking, especially of heavy drinking, has been suggested as one of the main measures to reduce alcohol-attributable mortality. Aggregate-level studies including but not limited to natural experiments support this suggestion; however, causality cannot be established in ecological analysis. The results of individual-level cohort studies are ambiguous. On the other hand, randomized clinical trials with problem drinkers show that brief interventions leading to a reduction of average drinking also led to a reduction of all-cause mortality within 1 year. The results of these studies were pooled and a model for reduction of drinking in heavy drinkers and its consequences for all-cause mortality risk was estimated. Ceteris paribus, the higher the level of drinking, the stronger the effects of a given reduction. Implications for interventions and public health are discussed.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0735-0414 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agt021 ID - ref1 ER -