Systemic hypertensionAlcohol Consumption and Heart Failure in Hypertensive US Male Physicians
Section snippets
Methods
We used data from the Physicians' Health Study (PHS) I, a randomized trial of aspirin and β carotene for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer in 22,071 US male physicians. A detailed description of the PHS I has been published previously.10 At baseline, subjects were asked (1) to report their present blood pressure (item 13.a of the questionnaire) and (2) whether they had ever received drug treatment for hypertension (possible answers were never, past only, or present;
Results
Of 5,153 PHS subjects who reported prevalent hypertension at baseline, mean age at randomization was 58 ± 10 years (range 40 to 86). About 70% of subjects consumed 1 to 7 drinks/week, and only 4% reported consumption of ≥8 drinks/week. Table 1 lists baseline characteristics of study subjects. During an average follow-up of 18 years, 478 new cases of HF occurred in this cohort. In a multivariable Cox regression model, alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of HF in a dose–response
Discussion
In this cohort of hypertensive US male physicians, we found that light to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of HF. Furthermore, the inverse relation between light to moderate alcohol consumption and HF was observed for patients with HF with and without antecedent myocardial infarction. This was the first study to report an association between light to moderate drinking and risk of HF in hypertensive subjects.
Previous studies showed that excessive drinking was
Acknowledgments
We thank the PHS subjects for outstanding commitment and cooperation and the entire PHS staff for expert and unfailing assistance.
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Cited by (28)
Relation of Alcohol Consumption to Risk of Heart Failure in Patients Aged 65 to 84 Years With Hypertension
2018, American Journal of CardiologyCitation Excerpt :Differences in burden of risk factors for HF such as coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation among study populations may have also contributed to inconsistent findings across studies.3,12 In a study among 5,153 hypertensive male physicians in US, adjusting for diabetes mellitus led to a modest attenuation of the risk of HF.3 Similarly, Goya et al noted that the risk of HF was similar between never-drinkers and light drinkers (1 to 13 drinks/week) after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors.12
Light-to-moderate drinking and incident heart failure - The Norwegian HUNT study
2016, International Journal of CardiologyCitation Excerpt :On the other hand, excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of cardiomyopathy, either due to a direct toxic effect or due to hypertension [3,10,13,14]., and the results of previous studies of moderate alcohol consumption and HF have been inconsistent [1,3,4,10,13,15–19]. A recent meta-analysis found an inverse association between alcohol intake and HF incidence [19], but the role of former drinkers and drinking pattern in this association remains an important limitation [18].
Alcohol and cardiovascular health: The dose makes the poison.or the remedy
2014, Mayo Clinic ProceedingsAlcohol and the heart: To abstain or not to abstain?
2013, International Journal of CardiologyCitation Excerpt :Further, it did not appear to be mediated by a reduction in MI risk, after an extended follow-up of 18 years [137–139]. Light to moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of HF in hypertensive male physicians [140]. In the Framingham Heart Study, during 26,035 person-years of follow-up in men, and 35,563 person-years of follow-up in women, alcohol consumption was not associated with increased risk for heart failure, even among heavy drinkers (≥ 15 drinks/wk in men and ≥ 8 drinks/wk in women).
Heart Failure Prevention
2011, Preventive Cardiology: Companion to Braunwald's Heart Disease Expert Consult - Online and PrintAlcoholic and Cocaine-Associated Cardiomyopathies
2010, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases
The Physicians' Health Study was supported by Grants No. CA-34944, CA-40360, and CA-097193 from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and Grants No. HL-26490 and HL-34595 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Djoussé is Principal Investigator on a K01 HL-70444 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland.