Background:
Light to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and favorable cardiovascular health (CVH). However, the association between alcohol type and ideal CVH is yet to be established. This study examined the relationship between alcohol type and ideal CVH as measured by the American Heart Association Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) metrics.
Methods:
We analyzed data from 6,389 men and women aged 45-84 years from a multi-ethnic cohort free of CVD at baseline. Alcohol type (wine, beer and liquor), assessed from a food frequency questionnaire, was categorized as never, >0 but <1 drink/day, 1-2 drinks/day and >2 drinks/day. Each LS7 metric (smoking, physical activity, body mass index, diet, blood pressure, total cholesterol and blood glucose) was scored 0-2 points, with 2 indicating “ideal”, 1 “intermediate” and 0 “poor”. The maximum CVH score attainable ranged from 0-14 points (inadequate score, 0-8; average, 9-10; optimal, 11-14). We used multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between alcohol type and CVH adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, health insurance and study site.
Results:
The mean (SD) age of study participants was 62 (10) years and 53% were women. Participants who consumed 1-2 drinks/day of wine had higher odds of having optimal CVH scores compared to those who never drank wine [prevalence odds ratio (POR) 1.50 (1.02-2.20),
Table
]. In comparison to participants who never drank beer, those who consumed 1-2 and >2 drinks/day of beer had lower odds of having optimal scores [POR 0.49 (0.27-0.86) & 0.27 (0.12-0.58), respectively]. Additionally, those who consumed 1-2 and >2 drinks/day of liquor had lower odds of having optimal scores compared to those who never drank liquor [POR 0.52 (0.30-0.89) & 0.28 (0.14-0.55), respectively].
Conclusion:
In this cross sectional analysis, moderate consumption of wine was associated with favorable CVH. However, consumption of beer or liquor was associated with poorer CVH.
Depression, antidepressants and low hemoglobin level in the Paris Prospective Study III: A cross-sectional analysis
