Patterns of Alcohol Drinking and All-Cause Mortality: Results from a Large-Scale Population-based Cohort Study in Japan
Abstract
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 (> or = 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 > or = 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.
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Given the same amount of overall alcohol exposure, days without any alcohol consumption ('liver holidays') have been shown to be associated with a lower risk than daily drinking.
“More specifically, given the same amount of overall alcohol exposure, days without any alcohol consumption (‘liver holidays’) have been shown to be associated with a lower risk than daily drinking 284, 285.”
From The relationship between different dimensions of alcohol use and the burden of disease—an update (2017) · cites this paper as [284]
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- Authors
- Marugame, T., Yamamoto, S., Yoshimi, I., Sobue, T., Inoue, M., Tsugane, S., & for the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study Group
- Affiliations
- National Cancer Centre Japan (JP)
- National Institute of Public Health (JP)
- Venue
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-01-25
- Volume
- 165
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1039-1046
- ISSN
- 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6256
- OpenAlex
- W2159412729
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Coffee research and impacts
- Keywords
- alcohol consumption, all-cause mortality, drinking frequency, heavy drinking, light drinking, occasional drinking, Japanese adults
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Alcohol Drinking, Ethanol, Cause of Death, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Japan, Life Style, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Risk-Taking, Time Factors, Health Behavior, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk Assessment
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