Baseline alcohol consumption varied substantially across studies, was generally lower in more recent calendar periods of recruitment, and was positively skewed (median 96 g/week [5th–95th percentiles 6–448]; appendix p 22). It was weakly and positively correlated with male sex, smoking status and amount, systolic blood pressure, HDL-C level, fibrinogen, and lower socioeconomic status (appendix pp 23–24). 152 640 serial assessments of alcohol consumption were available for 71 011 participants from 37 studies (median interval between baseline and serial measurements 5·6 years [5th–95th percentiles 1·04–13·5]). Participants with serial measurements were younger, had slightly higher baseline alcohol consumption, and were more likely to be men than those without serial measurements (table 1, appendix p 14). The regression dilution ratio for alcohol consumption was 0·50 (95% CI 0·47–0·52), similar to that for systolic blood pressure (0·52, 0·50–0·55) but lower than that for HDL-C concentration (0·74, 0·72–0·76) in a common set of participants.
