Effects of Moderate and High Doses of Alcohol on Carotid Atherogenesis

Abstract

The role of alcohol consumption on pathophysiology of atherosclerosis is not completely well established. Past studies were conducted with different methodological approaches, sometimes leading to opposing conclusions. The aim of this study was to determine the weight of alcohol intake on carotid atherosclerosis in a group of subjects asymptomatic for cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. They were examined by ultrasonographic assessment during the period 1993 through 1997. Common risk factors of atherosclerosis and drinking habit were assessed by a standardized questionnaire. In this survey we confirm the J-shaped relationship between atherosclerosis and alcohol consumption. The effect of alcohol intake is more evident if we consider the presence of multiple internal carotid stenosis, or those greater than 25%, as outcome variables. These effects are independent from the other risk factors included in logistic regression paradigms (age, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, family history of cardio-cerebrovascular disease, smoking and social status). Our study supported that a high level of alcohol intake plays a role as an independent factor in carotid atherogenesis.

Alcohol consumption in relation to carotid subclinical atherosclerosis and its progression: results from a European longitudinal multicentre study

“…In contrast to previous studies that have found a linear increase [22,25] or J-shaped curve for the association between alcohol consumption and C-IMT [9,14,15,17], our findings support a linear decrease of C-IMT (both at baseline and after 30-month follow-up) in relation to increasing alcohol consumption. A linear decrease of IMT was previously reported in two other large epidemiological studies (n > 4000) including Korean men and women [13,16].…”

“…A linear decrease of IMT was previously reported in two other large epidemiological studies (n > 4000) including Korean men and women [13,16]. The earlier investigations with opposite findings to our study were performed in Americans [15], Chinese [17], Finnish [25], Germans [14,22] and Italians [9]. Apart from the study population origins being different, the intake of alcohol in our study was generally lower (median 4 g/d IQR: 0 − 16).…”

“…Findings from epidemiological studies investigating the association between alcohol consumption and C-IMT have shown inconsistent results: some found a protective effect of moderate alcohol consumptions [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], others suggested that alcohol is always a risk factor [21][22][23][24][25][26], and yet others showed no association [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Some of the studies have described the relationship between alcohol consumption and atherosclerosis as linear, with either increased [22,25] or decreased C-IMT [13,16] associated with a rise in alcohol consumption, whereas others report a J-shaped association, with a decrease of C-IMT with moderate alcohol consumption and an increase of C-IMT with high alcohol consumption [9,14,15,17]. Few studies, mainly performed in men [23,24,27,28], often with heavy or binge drinking habits [23,24,27], have investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption and progression of atherosclerosis, and resul...…”

Ethanol

“…[857][858][859] Although moderate drinking reportedly did not reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis in small intracerebral arteries, 860,861 a study using CT scanning found that one to five drinks daily reduced the risk of leukoaraiosis in stroke patients, whereas heavier ethanol consumption increased the risk. [857][858][859] Although moderate drinking reportedly did not reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis in small intracerebral arteries, 860,861 a study using CT scanning found that one to five drinks daily reduced the risk of leukoaraiosis in stroke patients, whereas heavier ethanol consumption increased the risk.…”

Influência do etanol das bebidas alcoólicas na aterosclerose em artérias carótidas extracranianas

“…Parece existir uma associação inversa significante entre baixo consumo de álcool e aterosclerose carotídea 11,-15 , a qual é demonstrada em forma de curva tipo "U" 6,16 ou "J" 17 . Estes dados poderiam explicar o fato de que o baixo ou o moderado consumo de álcool tem ação protetora contra DCV oclusiva 18 .…”