Inference Problems in the Analysis of the Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Coronary Heart Disease

Results concerning the dependence of life durations on alcohol use of individuals who die of coronary heart disease are brought into question when no account is taken of the mortality risks associated with other competing diseases. Procedures which restrict the analysis of coronary heart disease to respondents who die of this disease will produce biased estimates of the parameters of interest. Other dimensions of coronary heart disease are neglected by focusing on durations of life and well-constructed sample surveys can provide important new information on how alcohol consumption affects the risks of getting coronary heart disease.