SynthesisBMC medical research methodology2022
Are there non-linear relationships between alcohol consumption and long-term health?: a systematic review of observational studies employing approaches to improve causal inference.
Synthesis in BMC medical research methodology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structured tools for assessing quality and risk of bias in Mendelian randomization studies: an updated systematic review.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Pooled it
- Alcohol consumption and its association with cancer, cardiovascular, liver and brain diseases: a systematic review of Mendelian randomization studies.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Tools for assessing quality and risk of bias in Mendelian randomization studies: a systematic review.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Pooled it
- DNA methylation-based surrogate markers of C-reactive protein and their associations with health-related traits.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Lifetime Drinking Patterns Shape Awareness of Alcohol-Related Chronic Disease Risks in U.S. Adults: Findings From the National Alcohol Survey.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2026Article
- Alcohol Consumption and DNA Methylation in a Mediterranean Cohort: A Focus on Oxidative Stress and Aging Biomarkers.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic variations in healthcare service use among people with HIV in the UK.PloS one · 2026Article
- Social relationships and epigenetic markers of aging in middle-aged and older adults: cross-sectional and prospective analyses.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Psychological distress in older adults: associations with epigenetic markers of ageing, inflammation, and depression, and joint effects on mortality.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Association of Epigenetic Markers of Aging With Prevalent and Incident Type 2 Diabetes.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- Physical activity and DNA methylation-based markers of ageing in 6208 middle-aged and older Australians: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.GeroScience · 2025Article
- New highlights in cancer and depression multimorbidity: a scoping systematic review.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Enhancing causal inference in population-based neuroimaging data in children and adolescents.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2024Review
- The dose-response relationship of pre-menopausal alcohol consumption with age at menopause: a population study of 280 497 women in Norway.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundResearch has long found 'J-shaped' relationships between alcohol consumption and certain health outcomes, indicating a protective effect of moderate consumption. However, methodological limitations in most studies hinder causal inference. This review aimed to identify all observational studies employing improved approaches to mitigate confounding in characterizing alcohol-long-term health relationships, and to qualitatively synthesize their findings.
methodsEligible studies met the above description, were longitudinal (with pre-defined exceptions), discretized alcohol consumption, and were conducted with human populations. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase and SCOPUS were searched in May 2020, yielding 16 published manuscripts reporting on cancer, diabetes, dementia, mental health, cardiovascular health, mortality, HIV seroconversion, and musculoskeletal health. Risk of bias of cohort studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, and a recently developed tool was used for Mendelian Randomization studies.
resultsA variety of functional forms were found, including reverse J/J-shaped relationships for prostate cancer and related mortality, dementia risk, mental health, and certain lipids. However, most outcomes were only evaluated by a single study, and few studies provided information on the role of alcohol consumption pattern.
conclusionsMore research employing enhanced causal inference methods is urgently required to accurately characterize alcohol-long-term health relationships. Those studies that have been conducted find a variety of linear and non-linear functional forms, with results tending to be discrepant even within specific health outcomes.
trial registrationPROSPERO registration number CRD42020185861.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.