Search

OBJECTIVES:: To study the association between alcohol drinking pattern and obesity. DESIGN:: Cross-sectional population study with assessment of quantity and frequency of alcohol intake, waist and hip circumference, height, weight, and lifestyle factors including diet. SUBJECTS:: In all, 25?325 men and 24?552 women aged 50-65?y from the Diet, Cancer and Health Study, Denmark, 1993-1997 participated in the study. MEASUREMENTS:: Drinking frequency, total alcohol intake, body mass index (BMI), and waist and hip circumference. RESULTS:: Among men, total alcohol intake was positively associated with high BMI (=30?kg/m2), large waist circumference (=102?cm) and inversely associated with small hip circumference (<100?cm). Among women, the total alcohol was associated with high BMI, large waist (=88?cm), and small hips only for the highest intake (28+drinks/week). The most frequent drinkers had the lowest odds ratios (OR) for being obese. Among men, OR for having a high BMI were 1.39 (95%confidence interval: 1.36-1.64), 1.17 (1.02-1.34), 1.00 (reference), 0.87 (0.77-0.98), and 0.73 (0.65-0.82) for drinking 1-3 days/month, 1 day/week, 2-4 days/week, 5-6 days/week, and 7 days/week, respectively. Similar estimates were found for waist circumference. Corresponding results were found for women. CONCLUSION:: For a given level of total alcohol intake, obesity was inversely associated with drinking frequency, whereas the amount of alcohol intake was positively associated with obesity. These results indicate that frequent drinking of small amounts of alcohol is the optimal drinking pattern in this relation.International Journal of Obesity (2005) 29, 490-497. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802874 Published online 11 January 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between alcohol dependence and suicidal behaviour is well established and patients with suicidal behaviour in treatment for alcohol dependence present a considerable challenge for clinical services. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for suicide attempts and to evaluate the outcome of treatment in patients in treatment for alcohol dependence. Semi-structured, detailed interviews were administered at baseline and at three sequential follow-up interviews with a large sample of 1692 patients at an outpatient treatment centre in the county of Funen in Denmark. Characteristics of, predictors for and outcome among suicidal patients were studied. Alcohol-dependent patients with a history of suicide attempts were found to constitute a highly selected group in alcohol abuse treatment as they often had a more severe course of alcohol dependence, were unemployed, younger, were more often lowly educated, and had more physical and psychiatric problems. Traumatic childhood experience related to physical or sexual abuse was found as a major predictor for suicidal behaviour among alcohol-dependent patients. We found no significant difference in the effect of treatment in patients with and without suicidal behaviour. These results support the hypothesis that alcohol-dependent patients with a history of suicide attempts are a selected group in respect to a number of demographical and psychosocial factors, but we found no difference in the outcome of treatment. This may imply that suicidal patients in treatment for alcohol abuse are treated effectively within the present treatment settings.

Background: Cross-sectional studies have reported a lower prevalence of abdominal obese persons among frequent drinkers than among nonfrequent drinkers., Objective: We tested the hypothesis that drinking frequency is associated with subsequent changes in waist circumference., Design: Data come from a prospective cohort study conducted in 1993-1997 (baseline) and 1999-2002 (follow-up) and included 43 543 men and women. Baseline information on alcohol drinking frequency was related to 1) change in waist circumference by linear regression and 2) major gain and major loss in waist circumference (defined as waist change in the lowest or highest quintile of waist changes) by polytomous logistic regression, also taking into account amount of alcohol intake., Results: Drinking frequency was inversely associated with changes in waist circumference in women and was unassociated with changes in waist circumference in men. Drinking frequency was unassociated with major waist loss but was inversely associated with major waist gain: odds ratios among men were 0.97 (95% CI: 0.73, 1.28), 0.95 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.12), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.99), 0.82 (95% CI: 0.71, -0.95), and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.9) for never drinking, drinking on 1, 2-4, 5-6, and 7 d/wk, respectively, compared with men who drank alcohol on <1 d/wk (P for trend < 0.0001). Results for women were similar. Adjustment for the amount of alcohol intake or total energy intake did not affect results considerably., Conclusions: Drinking pattern may be associated with development of abdominal obesity; in this prospective study, drinking frequency was inversely associated with major waist gain and was unassociated with major waist loss.