Table 5.

Adjusted relative risks (RRs) of all-cause mortality for different levels of alcohol consumption compared with lifetime abstainers estimated from higher quality studies^a with and without one influential study (Friesema et al., 2007)

	Model 1: Including Friesema et al.				Model 2: Excluding Friesema et al.
Drinking categoriesb	nb	RRc	[95% CI]	p	nb	RRc	[95% CI]	p
Former drinker	19	1.14	[0.77, 1.69]	.4950	17	1.31	[1.11, 1.55]	.0022
Low volume (1.30–<25 g /day)	39	0.89	[0.62, 1.29]	.5279	35	1.04	[0.95, 1.15]	.3557
Medium volume (25–<45 g/day)	11	1.08	[0.72, 1.62]	.7123	9	1.29	[1.06, 1.56]	.0106
High volume (45–<65 g/day)	7	0.95	[0.62, 1.46]	.8113	5	1.07	[0.83, 1.36]	.6100
Higher volume (≥65 g/day)	11	1.58	[1.05, 2.38]	.0295	11	1.85	[1.51, 2.27]	.0001
All drinkers combined	87	1.10	[0.86, 1.41]	.3557	77	1.19	[0.94, 1.49]	.1065

Notes: Bold indicates statistical significance. CI = confidence interval.

^aStudies in which only lifetime abstainers included in the reference group, adequate alcohol measure, median age <60 years at intake and ≥55 years at follow-up;

^bnumber of risk estimates;

^cestimates adjusted for sampling variability and between-study variation.