Table 1.

Relative Risk of Death of Various Cardiovascular Conditions and Cirrhosis by Ex-Drinkers’ Former Level of Alcohol Use

Condition (number of deaths)	Relative Risk for Each Drinking Category (drinks per day)
	Ex-drinkers	<1/mo	<1/day but >1/mo	1–2/day	3–5/day	6+/day
All coronary artery disease (CAD) (600)	1.0	0.9	0.8a	0.7a	0.7a	0.8
Acute myocardial infarction (284)	1.0	0.7	0.8	0.6a	0.5a	0.6
Other CAD (316)	0.9	1.0	0.7	0.8	0.7	1.0
Stroke (138)	1.0	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.7	1.4
Hemorrhagic (41)	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.8	1.3	4.7
Ischemic (34)	0.9	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.4	—b
Nonspecific (63)	1.1	0.7	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.2
Hypertension (64)	2.8	2.4	1.9	1.3	2.2	2.1
Cardiomyopathy (24)	3.4	8.5a	4.0	5.6	2.4	8.0
Syndromes* (82)	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.4a	0.6	1.0
Arterial** (41)	—b	1.1	1.6	0.4a	1.7	—b
Cirrhosis (42)	10.8a	1.4	1.0	4.3	8.1a	22.0a

^*Includes “symptomatic heart disease” (n = 32); disorders of heart rhythm (n = 22); and ill-defined heart disease (n = 28).

^**Includes arteriosclerosis (n = 15); aneurysms (n = 23); peripheral vascular disease (n = 2); and arterial embolism and thrombosis (n = 1).

^aSignificantly different from 1.0.

^bInsufficient cases for estimate.

NOTE: Relative risk is defined as the CAD death risk for each drinking category compared with the CAD risk among lifelong abstainers. This comparison is expressed as a ratio, using the CAD risk among abstainers as a reference, set at 1.0. For example, people who consume one to two drinks per day are almost twice as likely to die from hemorrhagic stroke than are abstainers (i.e., relative risk = 1.8), but they are approximately one-half as likely to die from acute myocardial infarction than are abstainers (i.e., relative risk = 0.6). Adjustments have been made for the influence of gender, age, race, smoking, education, and coffee consumption.

SOURCE: Adapted from Klatsky et al. 1990a.