Selection biases in observational studies affect associations between ‘moderate’ alcohol consumption and mortality

Selection biases may lead to systematic overestimate of protective effects from ‘moderate’ alcohol consumption. Overall, most sources of selection bias favor low‐volume drinkers in relation to non‐drinkers. Studies that attempt to address these types of bias generally find attenuated or non‐signific...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2017-02, Vol.112 (2), p.207-214
Main Authors: Naimi, Timothy S., Stockwell, Timothy, Zhao, Jinhui, Xuan, Ziming, Dangardt, Frida, Saitz, Rich, Liang, Wenbin, Chikritzhs, Tanya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Alcohol
Alcohol Drinking - mortality
bias
Clinical Medicine
epidemiology
Humans
Klinisk medicin
moderate drinking
mortality
Observational Studies as Topic - statistics & numerical data
Selection Bias
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Selection biases may lead to systematic overestimate of protective effects from ‘moderate’ alcohol consumption. Overall, most sources of selection bias favor low‐volume drinkers in relation to non‐drinkers. Studies that attempt to address these types of bias generally find attenuated or non‐significant relationships between low‐volume alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease, which is the major source of possible protective effects on mortality from low‐volume consumption. Furthermore, observed mortality effects among established low‐volume consumers are of limited relevance to health‐related decisions about whether to initiate consumption or to continue drinking purposefully into old age. Short of randomized trials with mortality end‐points, there are a number of approaches that can minimize selection bias involving low‐volume alcohol consumption.
ISSN:0965-2140
1360-0443
1360-0443
DOI:10.1111/add.13451