Moderate drinking or abstinence? Exploring the association of drinking status with multimorbidity in China.
Ex-drinkers had roughly double the odds of multimorbidity versus lifelong non-drinkers.
Moderate drinking or abstinence? Exploring the association of drinking status with multimorbidity in China.
To investigate the association between drinking patterns and multimorbidity in Chinese adults.
In this 2022 nationwide cross-sectional study of 30,505 participants from 31 provinces, drinking status was categorized as: nondrinkers (never consumed alcohol), constant drinkers (individuals with regular uninterrupted use), current drinkers (individuals with recently initiated), and ex-drinkers (with no alcohol consumption in the past 12 months).
ex-drinkers had roughly double the odds of multimorbidity versus lifelong non-drinkers
Additionally, individuals who were ex-drinkers also exhibited the highest risk for a greater number of chronic conditions (AORs = 2.00; 95%CI:1.82-2.19).
Among individuals who were constant drinkers, the presence of alcohol use disorder was associated with higher odds of multimorbidity (AORs = 1.69, 95% CI:1.35-2.21).
In a dedicated analysis of this alcohol use disorder subgroup, moderate daily consumption was linked to lower odds, while retirement and former smoking were linked to higher odds.
In this comprehensive model, factors such as age at drinking initiation and other sociodemographic factors were not independently associated with risk ( p > 0.05).
This study confirms the association between alcohol use and multimorbidity in China, identifying former drinkers and individuals with alcohol use disorder as high-risk groups.
The findings suggest that interventions for these groups should address broader health and social risks, beyond alcohol consumption alone.