Interview Survey (NHIS) offer a unique chance to explore the relationships between different dimensions of alcohol consumption with all-causes & cause-specific mortality in different ethnic groups in the US. The following specific hypotheses will be tested: HI: Overall, there will be a J-shaped curve between average volume of alcohol consumption & all-cause mortality in people over 45 years of age, & a linear curve in younger persons. H2: A drinking pattern with heavy drinking occasions will confer no beneficial effects on all-causes mortality. H3-4: The relationships between average volume of alcohol consumption & all-causes mortality will be specific to ethnicity, based on the respective drinking patterns. H5-7: As heavy drinking occasions are relevant for Coronary Heart Disease & injuries, the cause specific mortality for those causes of death with be ethnic group specific, whereas for cancers no such interaction between average volume of alcohol consumption and ethnicity is expected. The NHIS is a representative cross-sectional survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population. For the1988 & 1990 NHIS, marital status & underlying cause of death are available for all adults18 years & older with follow-up through 12/31/97. The baseline sample will include 81,464 men (n=33,989) & women (47,475) with 5,585 Hispanic men (n=2,303) & women (3,282) & 11,253 non-Hispanic Black men (n=3,983) & women (7,270). The approx. 8 years of follow-up will include a total of 8,294 deaths, 302 Hispanic deaths and 1,223 deaths in non-Hispanic Blacks. This will be the largest representative US sample to date used to investigate the association between dimensions of alcohol intake & mortality in the major US minority groups. Proportional hazard regression models will be used on the combined data, once homogeneity of samples is established. The results will provide important background data for shaping ethnicity-specific preventive measures for avoiding alcohol-related burden of disease.
