Alcohol consumption and the metabolic syndrome in Korean adults: the 1998 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
BACKGROUND
The metabolic syndrome is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. Light and moderate alcohol consumption have been associated with reduced cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.


OBJECTIVE
This study was performed to examine the association between alcohol consumption and the metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
The study sample comprised 7962 Korean adults (3597 men, 4365 women) who had participated in the 1998 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.


RESULTS
The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 20.8% in men and 26.9% in women. The adjusted odds ratio for the metabolic syndrome in the group consuming 1-14.9 g alcohol/d was 0.71 (95% CI: 0.53, 0.95) in men and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65, 0.98) in women. Alcohol consumption had a significant inverse relation with the odds ratio for low HDL cholesterol in all alcohol groups. Heavy alcohol consumption (> or =30 g/d) was associated with significantly higher odds ratios for high blood pressure and high triacylglycerol in men and high fasting blood glucose and high triacylglycerol in women. Odds ratios for the metabolic syndrome and its components tended to increase with increasing alcohol consumption. The dose-response relation of the odds ratio between alcohol consumption and the clustering of > or =3 risk factors was significant in both the high and low HDL-cholesterol groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Although alcohol consumption had a significant inverse relation with the odds ratio for low HDL cholesterol in all alcohol groups, an increasing dose-response relation was found between alcohol consumption and the odds ratio for the metabolic syndrome. This might be due to the opposite relation of alcohol consumption to other components of the metabolic syndrome.
Yoon
Yeong Sook
YS
Department of Family Medicine, Ilsan Paik Hospital, University of Inje, College of Medicine, Goyang City, Gyunggi Do, Korea.
Oh
Sang Woo
SW
Baik
Hyun Wook
HW
Park
Hye Soon
HS
Kim
Wha Young
WY
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D000431:Ethanol