The association of alcohol consumption and incident heart failure: the Cardiovascular Health Study.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the association between alcohol consumption and incident congestive heart failure (CHF) both overall and after adjusting for incident myocardial infarction (MI).


BACKGROUND
Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with lower risk of CHF and MI.


METHODS
The Cardiovascular Health study, a prospective cohort study of cardiovascular disease risk factors and outcomes, followed 5,888 subjects > or =65 years old for 7 to 10 years. Cox models were used to estimate the adjusted risk of CHF by reported alcohol consumption.


RESULTS
There were 5,595 subjects at baseline at risk for incident CHF with alcohol data and 1,056 events during follow-up. Compared with abstainers, the adjusted risk of CHF was lower among subjects who reported consuming 1 to 6 drinks per week (hazard ratio [HR] 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.67 to 1.00, p = 0.05) and 7 to 13 drinks per week (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.91, p = 0.01). Time-dependent adjustment for incident MI altered only slightly the association between moderate alcohol consumption and CHF (for 1 to 6 drinks per week, HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.04; for 7 to 13 drinks per week, HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.99). Baseline former drinkers had a higher risk of CHF than abstainers (HR 1.51, p < 0.01), but those who quit during the study did not have a higher risk (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Moderate alcohol use is associated with a lower risk of incident CHF among older adults, even after accounting for incident MI and other factors.
Bryson
Chris L
CL
Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Mukamal
Kenneth J
KJ
Mittleman
Murray A
MA
Fried
Linda P
LP
Hirsch
Calvin H
CH
Kitzman
Dalane W
DW
Siscovick
David S
DS
D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology