Drinking Habits and Coronary Heart Disease

Abstract

In a prospective study of more than 10,000 Yugoslav men residing in Bosnia and Croatia, who were first examined in 1964--1965, consumption of alcoholic beverages was related inversely to the subsequent appearance of coronary heart disease clinically manifest as myocardial infarction or nonsudden coronary heart disease death. Consumption of alcoholic beverages was not so related to sudden cardiac death. Men who drank most frequently had half the subsequent incidence of overall coronary heart disease as men who seldom or never drank. This finding was true for urban residents only. Serum cholesterol and Quetelet index were also related to coronary heart disease in urban areas but not in rural areas. The inverse relation of alcohol consumption to coronary heart disease incidence was statistically significant even after taking into account differences in blood pressure, serum cholesterol levels, cigarette smoking and other variables. The apparent absence of protection against sudden death may be due to chance or it may reflect the deleterious effects of high alcohol consumption on the myocardial cells and increased vulnerability to lethal arrhythmias in an especially lean population. There is, in fact, a specific association of recent drunkenness with sudden death in this population. Conceivably, the acute effect of heavy drinking may be a dominant factor in the incidence of sudden death for this population.

Alcohol Drinking Patterns Differentially Affect Central Adiposity as Measured by Abdominal Height in Women and Men

“…When only participants who were current drinkers were examined, men again reported more drinks/drinking day than women; gender differences for the remaining alcohol drinking patterns were similar to those noted for all participants (data not shown). 4 All weekly drinkers include daily drinkers. 5 Mixed, eating refers to participants who drink Ͻ75% of the time in any of the categories (with meals, with snacks, without food).…”

“…The effects of frequency and intensity were independent of the effects of the total amount of alcohol consumed. When frequency and intensity of drinking were combined, small amounts of alcohol on a regular basis were associated with the smallest abdominal heights, whereas participants with the most intense drinking (3)(4) ϩ drinks/drinking day) but on a sporadic basis (Ͻweekly) had some of the largest abdominal heights.…”

“…The consumption of light-to-moderate amounts of alcohol has been associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) 2 in both men and women (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). Much of what is known about the role of alcohol in the etiology of CHD comes from observational epidemiologic studies in which a variety of methods were used to measure alcohol.…”

Alcohol, arritmia y enfermedad coronaria

“…des, si tienen un infarto de miocardio, que este se presente como MSC (19) . Una borrachera reciente se correlaciona también positivamente con la MSC (20) . Por otra parte, en un estudio prospectivo realizado en Estados Unidos en el cual se incluyeron 21.537 médicos varones seguidos durante 12 años, también se reportó una menor incidencia de MSC en los bebedores moderados (2-6 medidas por semana) comparados con los no consumidores (21) .…”

A tot a day keeps disease away

“…In the Yugoslavia cardiovascular disease study, alcohol intake was inversely associated with IHD mortality and morbidity but was unrelated to total mortality and sudden death (Kozararevic et al 1980(Kozararevic et al , 1982. This population was characterized by heavy drinking overall, few of the subjects being absolute non-drinkers, so that the study does not address the hypothesis that moderate or light drinkers have a lower mortality than total abstainers.…”