[Commentary] LOW-RISK DRINKING LIMITS: ABSOLUTE VERSUS RELATIVE RISK
Addiction Volume 104 Issue 8, Pages 1303 - 1304

The paper by Moos et al raises important questions about the purpose and definition of low-risk drinking guidelines—questions that extend beyond the elderly population examined in their manuscript to the broader rationale for gender- and/or age-specific drinking limits. Moos et al. note that older men experience at least as many problems as older women at comparable levels of consumption and conclude that 'guidelines for men should not be set higher than those for women'. This suggests that recommended drinking limits should be keyed towards absolute levels of risk, but I would argue that drinking guidelines should reflect relative levels of risk, i.e. the excess risk of adverse outcomes associated with given levels of consumption. . . . . .

Read Full Text (PDF)

_________________________________________________________________