Circulation, Vol 88, 2787-2793, Copyright © 1993 by American Heart Association
J Demirovic, A Nabulsi, AR Folsom, MA Carpenter, M Szklo, PD Sorlie and RW Barnes
BACKGROUND. Although much has been written in recent years about the
relation between alcohol and atherosclerotic disease, controversy exists as
to whether and how alcohol exerts an effect on atherosclerosis in different
sites. METHODS AND RESULTS. We tested the hypothesis that alcohol
consumption is associated inversely with carotid atherosclerosis in a
population sample of 45- to 64-year-old men and women who participated in
the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study and were free of
cardiovascular disease at a baseline examination in 1987 to 1989. B-mode
ultrasonography was used to determine carotid artery intimal-medial wall
thickness and distensibility as indices of the degree of atherosclerosis.
The level of alcohol consumption in the ARIC sample was generally low. Age-
adjusted mean values of alcohol consumed (grams per week) were 72.0 for
white and 74.3 for nonwhite men and 24.8 for white and 11.2 for nonwhite
women. After adjustments for age, artery depth, education, body mass index,
sport index, cigarette-years of smoking, low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol, and diabetes mellitus, there was no significant
cross-sectional association of reported current alcohol intake with either
carotid artery wall thickness (among white and nonwhite men and nonwhite
women) or distensibility (in any of the four sex-race groups). Among white
women, the adjusted mean value of carotid artery wall thickness tended to
be higher in light to moderate drinkers than in never or rare drinkers, but
the difference across drinking status categories was of borderline
statistical significance (P = .04) and may be of little biological
importance. CONCLUSIONS. The ARIC Study found no material cross-sectional
association between current alcohol intake and carotid atherosclerosis but
provides an opportunity in the future to study atherosclerosis progression
and incident events in relation to alcohol consumption in a large
population sample of men and women.
ARTICLES
Alcohol consumption and ultrasonographically assessed carotid artery wall thickness and distensibility. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study Investigators
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Miami, Fla.
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