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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on October 7, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2006 41(6):583-584; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl079
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved

INVITED COMMENTARY

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE J-SHAPED CURVE

JENNIE CONNOR*

Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

* Correspondence to be addressed at: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, PO Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand; E-mail: jennie.connor@otago.ac.nz

(Received 18 August 2006; first review notified 25 August 2005; in revised form 28 August 2006; accepted 28 August 2006)

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

Epidemiologists continue to conduct prospective studies of the association between alcohol consumption and mortality; both all-cause mortality and one of its biggest drivers, deaths from coronary disease. Our fascination centres on the health-enhancing effects of light to moderate frequent drinking. This is the halcyon zone where alcohol is anxiolytic and relaxing, improves our meal, enhances our social life, and prevents our coronary disease without appearing to inflict much damage. Some have suggested we are fooling ourselves. Couldn't these J-shaped curves result from biases common to all of the studies?

While there is an impressive consistency about the shape of the relationships between alcohol and mortality in many studies, with closer scrutiny there is an interesting heterogeneity in the levels and patterns of drinking that are associated with . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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