title: Alcohol consumption and blood pressure in recently hospitalised patients.
abstract: One-thousand-four-hundred-and-fifty-three patients admitted to a teaching hospital, haemodynamically stable and not severely ill nor in significant pain, were interviewed within 48 h of admission and demographic data and a detailed drinking history were obtained. Supine blood pressures (BP) were recorded on the day following admission. The mean age of the population was 60.5 +/- 19.9 years (range 16-99 years) and the mean reported alcohol consumption was 67.8 +/- 273 g/week (range 0-6125 g/ week). Thirty-six percent of patients were currently receiving antihypertensive drug therapy. On multivariant analysis, reported alcohol intake was not significantly related to systolic BP (beta = 0.000, p = 0.902) or diastolic BP (beta = 0.028, p = 0.281). Age (beta = 0.331, p = 0.0001) and body weight (beta = 0.121, p = 0.0002) were significant independent predictors of systolic BP, and body weight was a significant independent predictor of diastolic blood pressure (beta = 0.207, p < 0.0001). A relationship between alcohol consumption and blood pressure was not apparent in this population of patients following admission to hospital. A positive association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure may not be a universal finding and may be contributed to by a "white coat" effect.
authors.affiliation: Drug and Alcohol Services, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Howes
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fairbrother
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Howes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013997:Time Factors