Marital State Alcohol Consumption, and Liability to Myocardial Infarction, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, or Hypertension in Men from Gothenburg

Abstract

Data from the Swedish personal number system were used to examine rates of admissions to hospital, particularly with myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes mellitus, or hypertension, in relation to marital state and histories of admission with alcoholism in 77 843 men from Gothenburg born in 1911–40. The number of admissions to hospital with the four diseases varied with marital state and history of admission with alcoholism, but by considering each subset from the total group it was possible to show that among alcoholic men no material variation in the number of admissions was evident. By contrast, among the nonalcoholic men those who were married were particularly prone to myocardial infarction but less likely to be admitted with stroke or diabetes mellitus than the unmarried or divorced men. The data show the value of common personal and health statistical numbering systems in generating epidemiological information beyond that obtainable from aggregated data without a record linkage technique. © 1985, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.