title: Alcohol intake and triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio in men with hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio has been proposed to be a good predictor of cardiovascular disease. The relationship between alcohol consumption and TG/HDL-C ratio in patients with hypertension is unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were normotensive and hypertensive men aged 35-60 years who were divided by daily ethanol intake into non-, light (<22g/day), heavy (≥22 but <44g/day), and very heavy (≥44g/day) drinkers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TG/HDL-C ratio was significantly higher in the hypertensive group than in the normotensive group. Both in the normotensive and hypertensive groups, TG/HDL-C ratio was significantly lower in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers than in nondrinkers and was lowest in light drinkers. In the hypertensive group, odds ratios (ORs) for high TG/HDL-C ratio (≥3.75) in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers vs. nondrinkers were significantly lower (P < 0.01) than a reference level of 1.00 (light drinkers: OR = 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.40-0.59; heavy drinkers: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.52-0.67; very heavy drinkers: OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.61-0.80) and were significantly lower than the corresponding ORs in the normotensive group. The ORs for hypertension in subjects with vs. subjects without high TG/HDL-C ratio were significantly higher than the reference level in all the alcohol groups and were significantly lower in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers than in nondrinkers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that there is an inverted J-shaped relationship between alcohol and TG/HDL-C ratio in individuals with hypertension and that alcohol weakens the positive association between TG/HDL-C ratio and hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan. wakabaya@hyo-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: alcohol; blood pressure; cardiovascular disease; dyslipidemia; hypertension; triglycerides/HDL cholesterol ratio