Moli-sani study – new update Moderate drinkers seem to be less often hospitalized….

WHAT IS THE MOLI-SANI STUDY?

The Moli-sani study (www.moli-sani.org) is a cohort study carried out in central/southern Italy aiming at evaluating the risk factors (environmental, genetics, bio-molecular) linked to chronic-degenerative disease with particular regard to cancer, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST FINDINGS OF THE MOLI-SANI STUDY?

In this prospective study of 21.000 participants from a Mediterranean population, life-time abstainers and heavier consumers (>48g/day)* had higher rates of hospitalization for all causes compared to moderate drinkers, especially among current smokers.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

It shows that moderate intake of alcoholic beverages had a modest but complex impact on global hospitalization burden. The authors thus suggest that efforts to reduce both the heavy drinking and smoking are likely to have meaningful impacts on health-care systems.

Definitions:

* Heavy drinking: >48g of alcohol/day

Reference group: 1-12g of alcohol/day

12.1-24 g of alcohol: light drinkers

24.1 -48 g of alcohol: moderate drinkers

Occasional drinkers: less than 2.5 alcoholic units/month

Binge drinkers: >4 alcohol units (48g/d) for women and >5alcoholic units (60g/d) for men on a single occasion

1 alcoholic unit: 120 ml of wine, 330ml of beer or 40 ml of spirits (containing 12 g of alcohol)

Costanzo S and all the Moli sani study investigators, Alcohol consumption and hospitalization burden in an adult Italian population: prospective results from the Moli-sani study, Addiction 2018, https://doi.10.1111/add.14490 

For more information about this article, read the scientific abstract here.