title: The acute effects of alcohol on the blood pressure of young, normotensive men.
abstract: Alcohol's acute effects on arterial blood pressure (BP) were examined. To separate the effects of alcohol on BP from those of fluid volume and expectancy, normotensive men were divided into three groups. The alcohol group received 1.0 ml of absolute alcohol/kg of body weight. The expectancy group expected alcohol but received only tonic. The control group expected and received only tonic. With age as a covariate, significant changes in systolic BP were found only in the alcohol group, indicating that the changes in systolic BP were not attributable to subject expectancy or volume of fluid consumed. The expectancy control groups did not differ from each other. A significant quadratic trend was found for systolic BP in the alcohol group, suggesting that alcohol may have an acute biphasic effect on systolic BP, with an initial decrease as the alcohol is ingested followed by an increase toward the basal level during detoxication. No significant effects were found for diastolic BP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 53201.
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Adesso
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Stasiewicz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000503:physiopathology; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012718:Set, Psychology