Alcohol consumption and health-promoting behavior in a U.S. household sample: leisure-time physical activity.
OBJECTIVE
Hypothesizing that people who moderate their alcohol intake engage in other health-promoting cardioprotective behavior, this research explored associations between alcohol consumption and leisure-time physical activity.


METHODS
Data representative of the U.S. population (N = 41,104; 52.5% women) were derived from the 1990 National Health Interview Survey, which employed a multistage probability design. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed, using lifetime abstainers as the reference group.


RESULTS
An inverted J-shaped curve characterized the association between estimates of alcohol consumption and leisure-time physical activity, in which likelihood of displaying a physically active lifestyle (odds ratios) increased from abstinence (1.00) to moderate drinking (1.84), then declined at heavier consumption (1.61). Stratified analyses yielded similar results with peaks at light or moderate consumption for current smokers, persons aged 55 and over, and those with cardiovascular risk conditions. As activity intensity increased, the inverted J-shaped curve persisted with more pronounced peaks at moderate drinking.


CONCLUSIONS
Robust findings of an association between cardioprotective leisure-time physical activity and moderate alcohol consumption provide evidence for a health-promoting lifestyle that may play an explanatory role in the alcohol-coronary heart disease relationship.
Smothers
B
B
Epidemiology Branch, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7003, USA. bs86h@nih.gov
Bertolucci
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010507:Periodicity; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013695:Temperance; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology