Alcohol Consumption and Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality in Poland and the Wider Central and Eastern European Region: A Scoping Review

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Poland, and alcohol is among the principal modifiable determinants of cardiovascular health there. The view of light-to-moderate drinking as cardioprotective has been challenged by bias-corrected synthesis, Mendelian randomisation, and the 2023 World Health Organization position that no level of alcohol consumption is safe. We synthesised the primary epidemiological and modelling evidence on alcohol and cardiovascular mortality in Poland and the wider Central and Eastern European region. PubMed/MEDLINE and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched on 18 June 2026 from 1998 onward; 107 studies were included. Risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and AMSTAR-2 and certainty with GRADE. Heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis, so the evidence was synthesised without meta-analysis (SWiM). The review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261427480) and follows PRISMA 2020. Excess cardiovascular and all-cause mortality tracked high average intake and alcohol use disorder rather than occasional intake. Polish data showed dose-graded rises in blood pressure, and stronger alcohol-control policy in the Baltic states and Poland was associated with lower mortality. The lower mortality of moderate drinkers relative to abstainers is consistent with sick-quitter bias rather than cardioprotection. Certainty was low to very low. The evidence does not support promoting any level of alcohol consumption for cardiovascular protection.