The association between alcohol consumption and 10-year mortality by death cause was studied in 1112 men aged 55-74 years and living either in eastern or south-western Finland. After adjustment for age, blood pressure, smoking, serum cholesterol, and other variables, the relative odds ratio of 10-year total mortality associated with consuming 1-273 g of absolute alcohol per month was 0.9 (95% confidence interval of 0.6-1.2) and with consuming more than 273 g per month due to violence was small, 15, but relative odds of violent death associated with consuming 1-273 and 274 or more grams of alcohol per month were 3.4 and 16.2, respectively (95% confidence intervals of 0.4-31.9 and 1.9-141.2).