Alcohol and Mortality

Excerpt

To the editor: We read with interest the article by Klatsky, Friedman, and Siegelaub on alcohol and mortality (1). The authors examined mortality rates, controlling for drinking habits, smoking habits, age, sex, and race, and found an apparent beneficial effect of moderate alcohol ingestion especially on cardiac mortality. They suggested several possible reasons for this finding, such as changes in high density lipoprotein and changes in platelet function.

The relation between alcohol and mortality must be carefully examined before we can say to an uncritical public that alcohol ingestion, albeit moderate, may prolong one's life. Association does not always imply