Long-term daily drinking linked to stiffening of the...

"Men who drink more than a pint a day over several years are at greater risk of heart attack or stroke," The Sun reports.

A UK study found men who consistently drank more than the recommended limits had signs of stiffening of the arteries, which has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Researchers used data from more than 3,000 British civil servants to examine the link. Participants reported their alcohol intake over a 20-year period.

Stiffness of the arteries was also measured using a device that looks at how pressure waves move through an artery – the faster the pulse wave moves, the stiffer the arteries.

Men who were frequent heavy drinkers across the follow-up period had stiffer arteries compared with frequent moderate drinkers. There were no significant findings seen for women. The reasons for this are unclear.

While the study cannot prove cause and effect, and stiffening of the arteries can have a range of causes, it does highlight the fact alcohol-related harms can affect anyone.

Frequently drinking more than the recommended limits can damage your health.

Learn more about the official alcohol guidelines.

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by researchers from University College London and the University of Cambridge.

Co-funding was provided by the Medical Research Council and Alcohol Research UK as well as by the European Research Council.

The UK Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and the National Institutes of Health supported the Whitehall II study data collection.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Heart Association on an open access basis, and it's free to read online.

The UK media got itself into a bit of a muddle about whether the study says drinking more than a pint a day, just a pint a day, or even just half a pint a week is linked to cardiovascular disease.

The research suggests drinking more than a pint a day is linked to cardiovascular disease. Men who consumed more than 112g of ethanol, assumed to be seven pints a week, were assessed as putting themselves at risk.

Many media sources have quoted Dr Darragh O'Neill, the study's lead author, who tried to explain his theory about these findings. "Heavier alcohol intake may activate certain enzymes that would lead to collagen accumulation, which could in turn exacerbate the rate of arterial stiffening."

What kind of research was this?

This prospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the association between alcohol consumption and arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness has been linked with increased cardiovascular disease risk.

Data from the Whitehall II cohort study, which included British civil servants, was used to find links and hypothesise.

This type of study is good for finding links, but can't prove cause and effect.

What did the research involve?

The study used data from the Whitehall II cohort study. This is an ongoing study that recruited British civil servants between 1985 and 1988.

Participants reported their alcohol consumption at regular intervals (described in the study as phases) over the following 20 years, up to 2007-09.

They were asked to report the number of glasses of wine, pints of beer or cider, and measures of spirits or liqueur they consumed in the week before each assessment. These values were then converted into ethanol volumes.

Participants' long-term drinking patterns over this follow-up were placed in categories.

Long-term drinker type (grams a week in each phase):

stable non-drinker – 0g
stable moderate drinker – 1-112g
stable heavy drinker – more than 112g
unstable moderate drinker – between 1g and 112g over more than half the phases, but more than 0g in phase 9
unstable heavy drinker – more than 112g across at least half, but not all, of phases 1-9 and more than 0g in phase 9
former drinker – 0g at phase 9, but intake more than 0g at any earlier phase

In 2007-09, participants completed repeat pulse wave velocity assessments. This is a measure of arterial stiffness – as waveforms travel faster through less elastic tissue, the higher the pulse wave velocity, the greater the arterial stiffness.

They also had their recent drinker type categorised at this time as:

no recent intake – 0g
recent moderate – 1-112g
recent heavy – more than 112g

Participants had pulse wave velocity measured again four to five years later in 2012-13.

Statistical modelling was used to investigate the link between the different drinker types and the relationship with arterial stiffness, and how this progressed over time.

The model was adjusted for potential confounders, including socioeconomic status, level of exercise, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol.

One-third of the full cohort (3,130 adults) had complete data available for analysis. The majority of the full cohort were male (74%) and white.

There were few current smokers, but the majority did not meet the recommended weekly exercise levels set by the World Health Organization. The researchers excluded people with cardiovascular disease.

What were the basic results?

Pulse wave velocity measurements taken at the start of the study period (2007-09) showed men who had a long-term heavy alcohol intake of more than 112g of ethanol a week had significantly stiffer arteries than those who drank moderately. There were no other significant findings at this time.

Over the following five years, all drinker groups showed some progression in their arterial stiffness.

But only male former drinkers showed significant progression compared with those who consistently had a moderate alcohol intake.

After full adjustment for all confounders, no significant links were seen between any of the drinker categories and arterial stiffness for women. It's not clear why this was the case.

How did the researchers interpret the results?

The researchers concluded that, "This work demonstrates that consistently heavy alcohol consumption is associated with higher cardiovascular risk, especially among males, and also provides new insights into the potential impact of changes in drinking levels over time.

"It discusses the additional insights possible when capturing longitudinal consumption patterns in lieu of reliance on recent intake alone."

Conclusion

This prospective cohort study aimed to look at the relationship between long-term alcohol patterns and stiffness of the arteries as a potential indicator of cardiovascular health.

The researchers found men who were stable heavy drinkers had stiffer arteries compared with stable moderate drinkers.

Male former drinkers also had increasingly stiffer arteries over the following four to five years compared with consistent moderate drinkers. There were no significant findings seen for women at all.

But this study does have limitations:

This type of study is not able to prove drinking causes stiffness of the arteries. While the researchers have attempted to adjust for potential confounders, other factors may be responsible for the findings.
The study didn't find any significant links for female participants, but this may be because they were under-represented in the sample, at only 23.6%.
Data for alcohol consumption was self-reported, and this is subject to bias.
Assumptions were used to calculate the ethanol content within the drinks, but this can vary widely between beers and wine.
Although the study looked at stiffness of the arteries as a proxy indicator, it didn't assess whether long-term drinking patterns are associated with actual health outcomes, such as high blood pressure, stroke or heart disease.

We all know drinking more than the recommended allowance can damage our health.

To reduce health risks from drinking alcohol, the government advises men and women to not regularly drink more than 14 units a week. If you're drinking this many units, it's better to spread them out over three or more days.

Heavy drinking sessions are known to increase your risk of long-term illnesses, including certain cancers, and also increase your risk of accidents.

Read more about the risks of drinking too much.