Abstract

AIM:

To test the relationship between alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality.

DESIGN:

Data: Yearly mortality rates and per capita consumption from 25 European countries between 1982 and 1990. STATISTICAL MODELS: This paper employs time-series cross-sectional data to model the relationships between alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality. The data are derived from 25 European countries in the 1980s. The statistical analyses controlling cross-sectional correlation and timewise autoregression were used to implement the econometric modelling.

FINDINGS:

Increases (decreases) in the per capita consumption of 1 litre of pure alcohol were associated with increases (decreases) of 1.3% in all-cause mortality rates. The beverage-specific analyses indicated a significant relationship between consumption of beer and all-cause mortality only.

CONCLUSION:

The data show that per capita alcohol consumption, according to reported levels in Europe, is related to all-cause mortality and is thus of relevance to public health.