A few alcoholic drinks a week reduces the chances of dying for many older women, according to a study released last week by Medical School and School of Public Health researchers.

One to three drinks a week knocks almost 20 percent off the risk of death from all causes, the scientists found. But the benefit is confined mostly to women who are more than 49 years old and those at risk for heart disease.

"Light to moderate drinking lowers death risk by reducing mortality from heart disease," said Charles Fuchs, an instructor in medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"Heart disease risk increases with age; that's why older women receive the most benefit," Fuchs said.

Women at risk for heart disease include women who smoke, are obese, have high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of heart disease.

"Heavier drinking, more than two to three drinks a day, increases the risk of death from other causes, such as breast and colon cancer, stroke, cirrhosis, accidents and suicide for women of all ages," Meir Stampfer, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in an interview with the Harvard Gazette.

Alcohol decreases the risk of heart disease by increasing high-density, or "good," cholesterol and by inhibiting the formation of clots and reducing the number and size of deposits in blood vessels.

A variety of studies on men have concluded that consuming fewer than two to three drink a day significantly reduces death from clogged heart arteries.

Previous similar studies on women have yielded conflicting results. Complicating the studies has been the fact that women are less at risk for heart disease than men and, drink for drink, accumulate more alcohol in their blood. Moreover, women who drink are more susceptible to alcoholic liver disease and breast cancer.

In an effort to end the confusion, 12 Harvard scientists analyzed questionaires filled out by 85,709 nurses. These women, aged 34 to 59 and free of heart disease and cancer in 1980, were studied over a period of 12 years. Information about the amount of alcohol consumed by 2,658 who died was matched with that from those who survived.

According to the findings, "for women as a group, light to moderate alcohol consumption confers a significant overall survival advantage. However, heavier drinking is associated with a substantiall increase in mortality," the researchers reported in last week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

"We don't want to give the impression that drinking is a way to reduce the risk of death from heart disease," Fuchs told the Gazette. "The way to do that is to deal with the risk factors. You can't do anything about your family history but you can stop smoking, lose weight, adjust your diet and take drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. That makes more sense than drinking alcohol."

"If you already drink, you can continue to enjoy it in moderation," Stampfer noted. "If not, don't use alcohol as a medicine. On the basis of our study, we can't make recommendations that apply to everyone. It's a matter of each woman talking to her physician and making her own decisions."