Wilkins Kathryn
Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
Health Rep. 2002 Oct;14(1):9-24.
This article examines patterns of alcohol consumption in relation to a subsequent new diagnosis of or death from heart disease.
The analysis is based on longitudinal data from the first three cycles of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS), conducted by Statistics Canada in 1994/95, 1996/97 and 1998/99. The data are from a sample of 3,379 women and 2,635 men from the household population, who, in 1994/95, were aged 40 or older and reported that they had not been diagnosed with heart disease. Cause of death was established with information from the Canadian Mortality Database.
Descriptive data were produced using bivariate frequencies. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine associations between level of alcohol consumption reported in 1994/95 and a subsequent diagnosis of or death from heart disease.
Women reporting moderate alcohol consumption--two to nine drinks in the past week--had significantly lower odds of receiving a new diagnosis of or dying from heart disease between 1994/95 and 1998/99, compared with women who reported lifetime abstinence. No association between alcohol consumption and subsequent heart disease emerged for men.
