Table 2.

Exemplar analyses of alcohol-associated risk to cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes.

A: Exemplar cardiovascular meta-analyses
Reference	Conditions examined	Non-drinker stratificationa	Sex-stratified risk analysisb	# Studies & total sample	Doses & definitions	Comments
Roerecke and Rehm (2012)	IHD morbidity & mortality	Yes	Yes	N = 957,684 24 studies	2.5–12 g/day; 12–24 g/day; 24–36 g/day	Results support cardioprotective association, but find heterogeneity across sexes and outcomes, with generally weaker effects than those reported earlier
Ronksley, Brien, Turner, Mukamal, and Ghali (2011)	CVD mortality, incident CHD, CHD mortality, incident stroke, stroke mortality	Mixed	No	N = 1,184,956 84 studies	<2.5 g/day; 2.5–15 g/day; 15–30 g/day; 30–60 g/day; >60g/day	2.5–15g/day consistently associated with a 14–25% reduction in risk of all outcomes. Heterogeneous dose-response patterns by outcome measure
Larsson, Wallin, Wolk, and Markus (2016)	Ischemic stroke, ICH, SAH	No	Yes	N = 1,102,642 27 studies	<12g/day; 12–24g/day; 24–48 g/day; >48g/day	Stroke risks vary by drinking pattern and stroke type. ≤24 g/day was associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke but not intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage
Briasoulis, Agarwal, and Messerli (2012)	Hypertension	No	Yes	N = 227,656 16 studies	<10g/day; 10–20 g/day; 20–30 g/day; 30–40 g/day; 40–50 g/day; >50g/day	Detected sex-dependent associations between stroke and moderate drinking, with protective effects noted only among women. >20 g/day associated with increased risk in both
Larsson, Orsini, and Wolk (2015)	Heart failure	No	No	N = 202,378 8 studies	36g/week; 84g/week.; 168 g/week.; 252g/week	Observed dose-response function consistent with J-shape: reduced risk at 36 and 84 g/week, but not 168 or 252g/week
Wood et al. (2018)	Stroke, MCI, CHD, Heart failure, CVD mortality	N/A	No	N = 599,912 83 studies	100–200g/week; 200–350g/week; 350 + g/week (0–25g/week and 0–100g/week employed as reference groups)	Heterogenous relationships across cardiovascular measures; Relative to a reference group including light drinkers, positive linear dose-response associations noted for some outcomes (e.g., stroke; CVD mortality), protective effects for others (e.g., MCI)

B: Exemplar type 2 diabetes (T2D) meta-analyses
Reference	Non-drinker stratificationc	Sex-stratified risk analysisd	# Studies and total sample	Doses and definitions	Comments
Knott, Bell, and Britton (2015)	Mixed	Yes	N = 1,902,605 38 studies	No categorical analyses	No T2D risk reduction noted for men at any dose; For women: reduction @ <71g/day; peak reduction @ 31–37g/day
Baliunas et al. (2009)	Yes	Yes	N = 477,200 20 studies	No categorical analyses	U-shaped function for both sexes; Protection among women noted <50 g/day, maximal reduction, 40%, @ 24 g/day. For men, protection <60 g/day; maximal reduction, 13% @ 22 g/day
Li, Yu, Zhou, and He (2016)	No	Yes	N = 706,716 26 studies	0–12g/day; 12–24g/day; >24 g/day	No risk increase noted at any dose. Protection among women maximal @ ~30% reduction and ~25–35g/day. For men: maximal reduction @ ~57% and 20–25 g/day
Carlsson, Hammar, and Grill (2005)	No	Mixed	13 studies	5–30 g/day; >30 g/day	At moderate levels (5–30 g/day), approximate reduction of 30% noted across samples; Similar pattern observed when women analyzed separately

^aReflects whether lifetime abstainers were separated from prior drinkers as a reference group. “Mixed” indicates this separation occurred in some, but not all analyses.

^bReflects whether dose-response risk functions were individuated for men and women.

^cReflects whether lifetime abstainers were separated from prior drinkers as a reference group. “Mixed” indicates this separation occurred in some, but not all analyses.

^dReflects whether dose-response risk functions were individuated for men and women.

IHD, Ischemic Heart Disease; CVD, Cardiovascular Disease; CHD, Coronary Heart Disease; ICH, Intracerebral Hemorrhage; SAH, Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; MCI, Myocardial Infarction