Home > Is low-level alcohol consumption really health-protective? A critical review of approaches to promote causal inference and recent applications.

Visontay, Rachel and Mewton, Louise and Sunderland, Matthew and Chapman, Cath and Slade, Tim (2024) Is low-level alcohol consumption really health-protective? A critical review of approaches to promote causal inference and recent applications. Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research, 48, (5), pp. 771-780. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15299.

External website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/a...

Heavy and disordered alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for several health conditions and is associated with considerable disease burden. However, at low-to-moderate levels, evidence suggests that drinking is associated with reduced risk for certain health outcomes. Whether these findings represent genuine protective effects or mere methodological artifacts remains unclear, but has substantial consequences for policy and practice. This critical review introduces methodological advances capable of enhancing causal inference from observational research, focusing on the 'G-methods' and Mendelian Randomization. We also present and evaluate recent research applying these methods and compare findings to the existing evidence base. Future directions are proposed for improving our causal understanding of the relationships between alcohol and long-term health outcomes.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
International, Open Access, Review, Article
Drug Type
Alcohol
Intervention Type
Harm reduction
Date
May 2024
Identification #
https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15299
Page Range
pp. 771-780
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
48
Number
5
EndNote

Repository Staff Only: item control page