Moderate alcohol intake isn’t associated with significant health risks. Increased intake, however, can have adverse effects on the liver and pancreas. But it is not clear if alcohol intake is related to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study aims to examine the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of non-fatal and fatal CVD.
This is a multicenter case-cohort study that included a total of 32,459 participants without baseline CVD. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of cardiovascular disease related to alcohol intake.
There were 15,162 non-fatal CVD events, including 9,307 non-fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) cases and 5,855 non-fatal strokes. Besides, 2,342 fatal CVD events were reported, including 1,699 fatal CHD and 733 fatal strokes. When associated with alcohol baseline alcohol intake, a J-shaped relationship was obtained. The risk of fatal cardiovascular events increased with the total per-day intake. However, a negative relationship was derived between alcohol intake and non-fatal CHD risk.
The research concluded that the intake of alcohol was directly proportional to the risk of different fatal and non-fatal subtypes, along with fatal CHD. However, the findings also suggested an inverse association between alcohol intake and the risk of non-fatal CHD.
Ref: https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k934
.
