A study was recently published by Xi and colleagues that analyzed the same NHIS data included here (Xi, Veeranki, Zhao et al. 2017). Using the reference group of never-drinkers, the study reported decreased risk of all-cause mortality with both light drinking (12 drinks yearly to less than 3 drinks weekly), and low-level drinking (3 to 14 drinks weekly for men, and 3 to 7 drinks weekly for women). In addition to differing categories of alcohol use, Xi et al. used slightly different covariates (a detailed comparison of the two studies is given in the appendix). The current study extends their findings by examining the relative effect of frequency of alcohol use within a set of light and moderate drinkers.
