Consistent Heavy Alcohol Consumption is Associated with Arterial Stiffness

Consistently heavy alcohol consumption is associated with arterial stiffness and a higher cardiovascular disease risk, especially among men, according to a new study.

Arterial stiffness had been independently linked to cardiovascular diseases and mortality, and moderate levels of alcohol consumption have been suggested to be protective against cardiovascular disease risks. However, little evidence is available on the effects of long-term alcohol consumption patterns and arterial stiffness.
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The study included data on 3869 participants, 73% of whom were male, from the Whitehall II cohort study on British civil servants. Researchers collected pulse wave velocity assessments at 4- or 5-year intervals throughout the trial, along with measurements of alcohol intake to account for longitudinal variability in consumption.

Participants were divided according to their reported alcohol intake. Heavy drinking was defined as more than 112 grams of alcohol per week, moderate drinking was defined as 1 to 112 grams per week, and former drinkers were defined as consuming 0 grams of alcohol towards the end of the trial, but reported consumption of alcohol at an earlier stage.

Sex-stratified linear mixed-effects modeling was used to assess the relationship between drinking and pulse wave velocity.

Their findings showed that all participants experienced increases in their pulse wave velocity score from baseline through each 4- or 5-year assessment interval.

Males who consistently consumed over 112 grams of alcohol per week had significantly higher baseline pulse wave velocity compared to moderate drinkers. Likewise, former male drinkers showed significantly greater increases in arterial stiffness longitudinally compared to consistently moderate drinkers.

In addition, female participants who inconsistently consumed moderate levels of alcohol had a higher pulse wave velocity than those who consistently consumed moderate amounts of alcohol. However, all associations between pulse wave velocity and level of alcohol consumption were statistically insignificant in female participants after researchers adjusted for body mass index, heart rate, diabetes, and other clinical, demographic or lifestyle factors.

“The study has shown that a consistently moderate drinking pattern is associated with lower arterial stiffness than is heavier drinking, particularly so among males,” the researchers concluded. “On the whole, the findings are compatible with the notion that consistently moderate alcohol intake is associated with lower cardiovascular risk, but suggest that the strength and form of this association may somewhat vary by sex.”

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

O’Neill D, Britton A, Brunner EJ, and Bell S. Twenty-five-year alcohol consumption trajectories and their association with arterial aging: a prospective cohort study [published online February 20, 2017]. JAHA. doi:https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.116.005288.