title: Association between alcohol intake and development of hypertension in Japanese normotensive men: 12-year follow-up study.
abstract: Although it has been suggested that alcohol intake is related to hypertension, few long-term prospective studies have investigated this relationship. We therefore conducted a prospective study in male residents of a farming community in Japan to determine whether heavy drinking would predispose to the development of hypertension. A total of 325 normotensive (< 140/90 mm Hg) men were enrolled in 1977. Twelve years later, 93 (28.6%) subjects became hypertensive (defined as blood pressure > or = 140/90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medication). The probability of the development of hypertension in heavy drinkers predicted from a logistic regression equation was 44.6% (relative risk: 2.05 versus nondrinkers) after adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI). It was 36.2% (relative risk: 1.86 versus nondrinkers) after a further adjustment for systolic blood pressure at baseline. A high odds ratio of 2.39 for the development of hypertension with alcohol intake of < 46 g/day versus > or = 46 g/day at baseline was obtained even after adjustments for age, BMI, and confounding factors. We conclude that habitual heavy drinking of alcohol is a risk factor for the development of hypertension. This is the first report demonstrating a significant relationship between habitual alcohol intake and the development of hypertension in a long-term prospective study in Japan.
authors.affiliation: The Third Department of Internal Medicine, and The Cardiovascular Research Institute, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan. mtsuru@med.kurume-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuruta
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imaizumi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000208:ethnology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors