title: Long-term change in alcohol-consumption status and variations in fibrinogen levels: the coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA) study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine long-term associations between change in alcohol-consumption status and cessation of alcohol use, and fibrinogen levels in a large, young, biracial cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of covariance models were used to analyse participants within the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA) cohort who had fibrinogen and alcohol use data at year 7 (1992-1993; ages 25-37) and year 20 examinations.
  
  
  METHODS
  4 urban US cities.
  
  
  METHODS
  2520 men and women within the CARDIA cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  13-year changes in alcohol use related to changes in fibrinogen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 13 years, mean fibrinogen increased by 71 vs 70 mg/dL (p=NS) in black men (BM) versus white men (WM), and 78 vs 68 mg/dL (p<0.05) in black women (BW) versus white women (WW), respectively. Compared with never-drinkers, there were smaller longitudinal increases in fibrinogen for BM, BW and WW (but a larger increase in WM) who became or stayed drinkers, after multivariable adjustment. For BM, WM and WW, fibrinogen increased the most among persons who quit drinking over 13 years (p<0.001 for WM (fibrinogen increase=86.5 (7.1) (mean (SE))), compared with never-drinkers (fibrinogen increase=53.1 (5.4)).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this young cohort, compared with the participants who never drank, those who became/stayed drinkers had smaller increases, while those who quit drinking had the highest increase in fibrinogen over 13 years of follow-up. The results provide a novel insight into the mechanism for the established protective effect of moderate alcohol intake on cardiovascular disease outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Tochi M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Okwuosa
authors.forename: Oana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Cheeling
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.forename: Kiang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Green
keywords: Epidemiology; Preventive Medicine