Association between temperature, sunlight hours and alcohol consumption

BACKGROUND: Alcohol is a major risk factor for liver cirrhosis. Recently, it was proposed that colder climate might causally lead to increased consumption of alcohol. METHODS: We performed an ecologic study, using monthly updated data on mean temperature, sunlight hours and alcohol consumption from ten regions in Sweden, using publicly available data. A generalised additive model, adjusted for region, was applied to examine the association between mean temperature and mean sunlight hours with mean alcohol consumption. RESULTS: We found a non-linear inverse association between mean monthly temperature and mean alcohol consumption, suggesting that warmer temperature was associated with increased alcohol consumption and colder temperature with a decreased consumption. We found no association between mean sunlight hours and alcohol consumption. Consumption was highest during public holidays. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between a colder climate and increased alcohol consumption. Socio-economic factors are likely to explain the suggested association.