Any alcohol consumption risk factor for high blood pressure

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Any alcohol consumption risk factor for high blood pressure

Key takeaways:

• Routine drinking is associated with increases in systolic BP, even in adults without hypertension.
• Researchers advised limiting or avoiding alcohol intake.

As little as one alcoholic drink per day is associated with a linear increase in systolic BP, even for people without hypertension, data from a meta-analysis of international studies show.

“We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,” Marco Vinceti, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology and public health at University of Modena Medical School and Reggio Emilia University in Italy, said in a press release. “We were somewhat surprised to see that consuming an already-low level of alcohol was also linked to higher BP changes over time compared to no consumption — although far less than the BP increase seen in heavy drinkers.”

Data were derived from Di Federico S, et al. Hypertension. 2023;doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.21224.

Vinceti and colleagues analyzed data from seven longitudinal studies with 19,548 adult participants without hypertension or other CVD (68% men) that assessed the relationship between alcohol intake and BP. The studies were conducted in the U.S., Japan and South Korea and published from 1997 to 2021; median follow-up across studies was 5.3 years. Participants reported usual alcohol intake at the beginning of each study; intake was then translated into grams of alcohol consumed daily. The primary endpoints were the mean differences over time of systolic and diastolic BP, plotted according to baseline alcohol intake.

The findings were published in Hypertension.

Researchers found that there was a substantially linear positive association between baseline alcohol intake and changes over time in systolic and diastolic BP, with no suggestion of an exposure-effect threshold.

Compared with no alcohol consumption, average systolic BP was 1.25 mm Hg higher for those who consumed 12 g daily alcohol — slightly less than 12 oz regular beer or 5 oz wine in the U.S. — and 4.9 mm Hg higher for those who consumed 48 g daily alcohol. Similarly, diastolic BP was on average 1.14 mm Hg higher and 3.1 mm Hg higher for those who consumed 12 g and 48 g, respectively, compared with nondrinkers.

In subgroup analyses stratified by sex, the researchers observed an almost linear association between baseline alcohol intake and systolic BP changes for men and women and for diastolic BP in men only, whereas there was an inverted U-shaped association between diastolic BP and alcohol intake for women. Alcohol consumption was positively associated with BP changes for Asian and North American participants, apart from diastolic BP in the latter group.

“Alcohol is certainly not the sole driver of increases in BP; however, our findings confirm it contributes in a meaningful way,” Vinceti said in the release. “Limiting alcohol intake is advised and avoiding it is even better.”

Reference:

• Routinely drinking alcohol may raise blood pressure even in adults without hypertension. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/routinely-drinking-alcohol-may-raise-blood-pressure-even-in-adults-without-hypertension. Published July 31, 2023. Accessed July 31, 2023.