Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 14;14(24):5310.
doi: 10.3390/nu14245310.

Mediterranean Alcohol-Drinking Patterns and All-Cause Mortality in Women More Than 55 Years Old and Men More Than 50 Years Old in the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) Cohort

María Barbería-Latasa  1   2 , Maira Bes-Rastrollo  1   2   3 , Rafael Pérez-Araluce  1   2 , Miguel Ángel Martínez-González  1   2   3 , Alfredo Gea  1   2   3
Affiliations

Mediterranean Alcohol-Drinking Patterns and All-Cause Mortality in Women More Than 55 Years Old and Men More Than 50 Years Old in the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) Cohort

María Barbería-Latasa et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: Most of the available epidemiological evidence on alcohol and chronic disease agrees on recommending alcohol abstention to young people, but some controversy exists about the most appropriate recommendation for alcohol abstention for people of older ages. A growing body of evidence suggests that the pattern of alcohol consumption is likely to be a strong effect modifier. The Mediterranean Alcohol Drinking Pattern (MADP) represents a score integrating several dimensions of drinking patterns (moderation, preference for red wine, drinking with meals, and avoiding binge drinking). Our aim was to clarify this issue and provide more precise recommendations on alcohol consumption.

Methods: We prospectively followed-up 2226 participants (men older than 50 years and women older than 55 years at baseline) in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort. We classified participants into three categories of adherence to the MADP score (low, moderate, and high), and we added a fourth category for abstainers. Cox regression models estimated multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of all-cause death and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using low MADP adherence as the reference category.

Results: The strongest reduction in risk of mortality was observed for those with high adherence to the MADP, with an HR of 0.54 (95% CI: 0.37-0.80). The moderate adherence group (HR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.44-0.96) and the abstention group (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.36-0.98) also exhibited lower risks of mortality than the low MADP adherence group.

Conclusions: based on the available evidence, a public health message can be provided to people older than 50 years as follows: among those who drink alcohol, high adherence to the MADP score could substantially reduce their risk of all-cause mortality.

Keywords: MADP; Mediterranean diet; alcohol; binge drinking; drinking pattern; elderly; moderate drinking; mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the participants in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) project.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2018;392:1015–1035. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Casswell S. Will alcohol harm get the global response it deserves? Lancet. 2019;394:1396–1397. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31883-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. WHO . Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2018. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2018.
    1. WHO Regional Office for Europe . Status Report on Alcohol Consumption, Harm and Policy Responses in 30 European Countries 2019. WHO Regional Office for Europe; Copenhagen, Denmark: 2019.
    1. Di Castelnuovo A., Costanzo S., Bagnardi V., Donati M.B., Iacoviello L., de Gaetano G. Alcohol dosing and total mortality in men and women: An updated meta-analysis of 34 prospective studies. Arch. Intern. Med. 2006;166:2437–2445. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.22.2437. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources