J. Ryan et al., Relationship between alcohol consumption, ambulatory blood pressure recordings and left ventricular mass, BLOOD PRESS, 10(1), 2001, pp. 22-26
The relationship between alcohol consumption, blood pressure and left ventr
icular mass remains uncertain. A detailed alcohol intake history, clinic bl
ood pressure measurements, 24-h ambulatory blood pressure recordings and me
asurements of left ventricular mass using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
were performed in 98 males aged 47.9 +/- 9.7 years, 20 of whom were receivi
ng antihypertensive monotherapy. Alcohol consumption (median intake 315 g/w
eek, range 0-2050) was significantly related to supine systolic clinic bloo
d pressures (beta = 0.20, p = 0.05) but not to clinic supine diastolic bloo
d pressures (beta = 0.12, p = 0.25), 24-h blood pressures (systolic: B = -0
.03, p = 0.75; diastolic beta = -0.05, p = 0.60), awake blood pressures or
sleeping blood pressures. Alcohol consumption was not related to left ventr
icular mass index (B = -0.05, p = 0.59). Left ventricular mass was strongly
related to mean 74-h systolic blood pressures (beta = 0.28, p = 0.01), mea
n awake and sleeping systolic blood pressures, and less strongly to clinic
systolic blood pressures (beta = 0.23, p = 0.03). These results were not si
gnificantly altered by adjusting for age, smoking, body mass index or alcoh
ol intake, or by excluding the 20 men who were receiving antihypertensive t
herapy. The results of this study suggest that alcohol consumption at level
s commonly encountered in the community is not an important predictor of le
ft ventricular mass index in men, either via direct effects or by indirect
effects on blood pressure.