Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on March 6, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwk112
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
165/9/1039    most recent
kwk112v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marugame, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marugame, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2007 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Patterns of Alcohol Drinking and All-Cause Mortality: Results from a Large-Scale Population-based Cohort Study in Japan

Tomomi Marugame1, Seiichiro Yamamoto1, Itsuro Yoshimi2, Tomotaka Sobue1, Manami Inoue3, Shoichiro Tsugane3 for the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study Group

1 Cancer Information Services and Surveillance Division, Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan
2 Tobacco Control Information Section, Center for Information Research & Library, National Institute of Public Health, Saitama, Japan
3 Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan

Reprint requests to Dr. Tomomi Marugame, Statistics and Cancer Control Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan (e-mail: tmarugam{at}gan2.res.ncc.go.jp).

Received for publication May 24, 2006. Accepted for publication October 20, 2006.

To evaluate the hypothesis that, in terms of all-cause death, drinking alcohol 1–4 days per week is less harmful than daily (5–7 days/week) drinking of the same quantity of alcohol, a prospective cohort study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted in Japan between 1990 and 2003 of 88,746 subjects (41,702 men and 47,044 women) aged 40–69 years at baseline. Among male regular drinkers consuming alcohol more than 1 day per week, light drinkers (<300 g/week) showed no increase in all-cause mortality irrespective of frequency of alcohol intake. Heavy drinkers (≥300 g/week), however, showed an increased risk of all-cause mortality among those who consumed alcohol 5–7 days per week, while no obvious increase was observed among those who consumed alcohol less than 4 days per week. Hazard ratios for drinkers who consumed alcohol 5–7 days per week were 1.29 (95% confidence interval: 1.12, 1.50) for 300–449 g per week and 1.55 (95% confidence interval: 1.32, 1.81) for ≥450 g per week when compared with those for occasional drinkers who consumed alcohol 1–3 days per month. These findings support the Japanese social belief that "liver holidays," abstaining from alcohol for more than 2 days per week, are important for heavy drinkers.

alcohol drinking; cohort studies; drinking behavior; Japan; mortality

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio; ICD-10, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Edition


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am J EpidemiolHome page
T. Mizoue, M. Inoue, K. Wakai, C. Nagata, T. Shimazu, I. Tsuji, T. Otani, K. Tanaka, K. Matsuo, A. Tamakoshi, et al.
Alcohol Drinking and Colorectal Cancer in Japanese: A Pooled Analysis of Results from Five Cohort Studies
Am. J. Epidemiol., June 15, 2008; 167(12): 1397 - 1406.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.