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.