Association of alcohol use with years lived without major chronic diseases: A multicohort study from the IPD-Work consortium and UK Biobank

Solja T Nyberg; G David Batty; Jaana Pentti; Ida E H Madsen; Lars Alfredsson; Jakob B Bjorner; Marianne Borritz; Hermann Burr; Jenni Ervasti; Marcel Goldberg; Markus Jokela; Anders Knutsson; Aki Koskinen; Tea Lallukka; Joni V Lindbohm; Martin L Nielsen; Tuula Oksanen; Jan H Pejtersen; Olli Pietiläinen; Ossi Rahkonen; Reiner Rugulies; Martin J Shipley; Pyry N Sipilä; Jeppe K Sørensen; Sari Stenholm; Sakari Suominen; Ari Väänänen; Jussi Vahtera; Marianna Virtanen; Hugo Westerlund; Marie Zins; Archana Singh-Manoux; Mika Kivimäki

doi:10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100417

Association of alcohol use with years lived without major chronic diseases: A multicohort study from the IPD-Work consortium and UK Biobank

Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022 May 29:19:100417. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100417. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Solja T Nyberg^{1

2

3}, G David Batty⁴, Jaana Pentti^{1

5

6}, Ida E H Madsen⁷, Lars Alfredsson^{8

9}, Jakob B Bjorner⁷, Marianne Borritz¹⁰, Hermann Burr¹¹, Jenni Ervasti³, Marcel Goldberg^{12

13}, Markus Jokela¹⁴, Anders Knutsson¹⁵, Aki Koskinen³, Tea Lallukka¹, Joni V Lindbohm¹, Martin L Nielsen¹⁶, Tuula Oksanen¹⁷, Jan H Pejtersen¹⁸, Olli Pietiläinen¹, Ossi Rahkonen¹, Reiner Rugulies^{7

19}, Martin J Shipley⁴, Pyry N Sipilä¹, Jeppe K Sørensen⁷, Sari Stenholm^{5

6}, Sakari Suominen^{5

20}, Ari Väänänen³, Jussi Vahtera^{5

6}, Marianna Virtanen^{21

22}, Hugo Westerlund²³, Marie Zins^{12

13}, Archana Singh-Manoux^{4

24}, Mika Kivimäki^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Clinicum, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Tukholmankatu 8B, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland.
² Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
³ Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
⁵ Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
⁶ Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
⁷ National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸ Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁹ Centre for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Sweden.
¹⁰ Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹¹ Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany.
¹² Paris Descartes University, Paris, France.
¹³ Inserm UMS 011, Population-Based Epidemiological Cohorts Unit, Villejuif, France.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁵ Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden.
¹⁶ AS3 Companies, Viby J, Denmark.
¹⁷ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
¹⁸ VIVE-The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁹ Department of Public Health and Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²⁰ School of Health Science, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden.
²¹ School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.
²² Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
²³ Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
²⁴ Inserm U1153, Epidemiology of Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Université de Paris, France.

Abstract

Background: Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of several chronic diseases. In this multicohort study, we estimated the number of life-years without major chronic diseases according to different characteristics of alcohol use.

Methods: In primary analysis, we pooled individual-level data from up to 129,942 adults across 12 cohort studies with baseline data collection on alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and history between 1986 and 2005 (the IPD-Work Consortium). Self-reported alcohol consumption was categorised according to UK guidelines - non-drinking (never or former drinkers); moderate consumption (1-14 units); heavy consumption (>14 units per week). We further subdivided moderate and heavy drinkers by binge drinking pattern (alcohol-induced loss of consciousness). In addition, we assessed problem drinking using linked data on hospitalisations due to alcohol abuse or poisoning. Follow-up for chronic diseases for all participants included incident type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory disease (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) as ascertained via linkage to national morbidity and mortality registries, repeated medical examinations, and/or self-report. We estimated years lived without any of these diseases between 40 and 75 years of age according to sex and characteristics of alcohol use. We repeated the main analyses using data from 427,621 participants in the UK Biobank cohort study.

Findings: During 1·73 million person-years at risk, 22,676 participants in IPD-Work cohorts developed at least one chronic condition. From age 40 to 75 years, never-drinkers [men: 29·3 (95%CI 27·9-30·8) years, women 29·8 (29·2-30·4) years)] and moderate drinkers with no binge drinking habit [men 28·7 (28·4-29·0) years, women 29·6 (29·4-29·7) years] had the longest disease-free life span. A much shorter disease-free life span was apparent in participants who experienced alcohol poisoning [men 23·4 (20·9-26·0) years, women 24·0 (21·4-26·5) years] and those with self-reported heavy overall consumption and binge drinking [men: 26·0 (25·3-26·8), women 27·5 (26·4-28·5) years]. The pattern of results for alcohol poisoning and self-reported alcohol consumption was similar in UK Biobank. In IPD-Work and UK Biobank, differences in disease-free years between self-reported moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers were 1·5 years or less.

Interpretation: Individuals with alcohol poisonings or heavy self-reported overall consumption combined with a binge drinking habit have a marked 3- to 6-year loss in healthy longevity. Differences in disease-free life between categories of self-reported weekly alcohol consumption were smaller.

Funding: Medical Research Council, National Institute on Aging, NordForsk, Academy of Finland, Finnish Work Environment Fund.

Keywords: Alcohol consumption; Binge drinking; Chronic diseases; Disease-free life-years.

Abstract

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