Published online before print November 24, 2008, doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.108.114835
(Hypertension. 2009;53:13.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.
Original Articles |
Effects of Habitual Alcohol Intake on Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Its Variability Among Japanese Men
From the Department of Social and Environmental Medicine (T.O., R.C., H.I.), Osaka University, Osaka; Department of Public Health (T.T.), Ehime University, Ehime; Institute of Community Medicine (T.T., M.T.), University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki; Osaka Medical Center for Health Science and Promotion (T.O., H.I., A.K., M.K., S.S.), Osaka; Department of Preventive Cardiology (T.O.), National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka; and Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences (K.A.K.), Ibaraki, Japan.
Correspondence to Tetsuya Ohira, Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871. E-mail fwge1119{at}mb.infoweb.ne.jp
We sought to examine effects of habitual alcohol intake on ambulatory blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and HR variability among Japanese men. Subjects were 539 men aged 35 to 65 years from rural and urban communities. Ambulatory BP and HR were monitored with an automated, portable, noninvasive multibiomedical recorder. Power spectral analysis of the RR intervals on the ECG was performed every 5 minutes. Compared with nondrinkers, moderate drinkers (alcohol intake 23 to 45 g/d) and heavy drinkers (alcohol intake 
46 g/d) showed higher age- and field-adjusted mean values of systolic and diastolic BPs during the morning and while awake, but there were no differences in BPs over 24-hour periods and while asleep among the alcohol intake categories. Alcohol intake was positively associated with mean values of sleep-morning differences and daytime variability in BPs, HRs while awake and asleep, and low frequency:high frequency ratio while asleep. The results were virtually unchanged after adjustment for body mass index, smoking, and diabetes mellitus. Compared with the nondrinkers, age- and field-adjusted odds ratios of the morning BP surge (excess elevation of BP in the morning: morning systolic BP minus sleep systolic BP 37 mm Hg) for light (alcohol intake 0 to 22 g/d), moderate, and heavy drinkers were 0.96 (95% CI: 0.34 to 2.78), 1.68 (95% CI: 0.64 to 4.38), and 2.73 (95% CI: 1.12 to 6.67), respectively. Habitual alcohol intake was associated with increased BP in the morning, HR while awake and asleep, and sympathetic activity while asleep, which may explain some of the mechanisms of the relationship between heavy alcohol intake and risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Key Words: alcohol intake • ambulatory blood pressure monitoring • autonomic nerve function • heart rate variability • population-based
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