Changes in the frequency of alcohol intoxication associated with mortality.

The associations between mortality and changes in the frequency of intoxicating drinking were studied among 2050 males interviewed in 1953 about their drinking in 1949 and 1952. When age, marital status, social class and the frequency of intoxication in 1949 were controlled for, Weibull survival models indicated that, over a 12-year follow-up period, change in the frequency of intoxication from 1949 to 1952 was associated with mortality from diseases of the digestive system (p = 0.05), and over a 23-year follow-up period with mortality from injuries (p = 0.06).