ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2016
Alcohol abstention in early adulthood and premature mortality: Do early life factors, social support, and health explain this association?
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Causal mechanisms proposed for the alcohol harm paradox-a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Social disparities in alcohol consumption among Canadian emerging adults.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2023Article
- State-of-the-Science Review of Non-Chemical Stressors Found in a Child's Social Environment.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Review
- Social and Behavioural Determinants of the Difference in Survival among Older Adults in Japan and England.Gerontology · 2018Article
- Alcohol and Cigarette Use From Ages 23 to 55: Links With Health and Well-Being in the Long-Term National Child Development Study.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2017Article
- Health Risk Factors Associated with Lifetime Abstinence from Alcohol in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAdult alcohol abstainers have a heightened risk of premature mortality compared to light-to-moderate drinkers. We examine three plausible explanations, other than lack of alcohol, for this observed difference: Abstainers 1) have early life disadvantages that undermine long-term health; 2) lack social support; 3) are less healthy.
methodIn the National Child Development Study, an ongoing national British cohort study of individuals born in 1958, we investigated whether early life disadvantages, lack of social support, and poor physical health reduce or eliminate the elevated risk of mortality through age 51 among those abstaining from alcohol at age 33. Using Cox proportional hazard models in a stepwise approach we examined whether the alcohol-mortality relationship changed when potential confounders were included.
resultsThe risk of mortality by age 51 was greater among age-33 abstainers compared to light drinkers (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 2.18; 95% CI = 1.40, 3.40). Including early life disadvantages and social support in the hazard models did not alter these associations (HR = 2.12; 95% CI = 1.27, 3.54). Including physical health in the model resulted in a 25% reduction in risk of death among abstainers, though the difference in risk remained statistically significant (HR = 1.75; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.94).
conclusionsAbstaining from alcohol in early adulthood, in comparison to light drinking, predicts increased risk for premature mortality, even after accounting for numerous early and young adult confounders. Future research should examine potential moderators of this association.
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Registered trials
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