Casual alcohol consumption is associated with less subclinical cardiovascular organ damage in Koreans: a cross-sectional study

摘要

Epidemiologic studies have presented protective effects of alcohol against cardiovascular (CV) events. However, such studies were performed mainly on Westerners. We investigated the effects of alcohol on the subclinical CV morbidity in healthy Koreans. The coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, ankle-brachial pulse wave velocity (abPWV), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) of 1004 subjects (age, years±standard deviation [SD] 53?±?10; 72% were men) with no CV disease history were assessed. The subjects were divided into three groups based on their drinking patterns: Group 0 (abstainers), Group 1 (casual drinkers), and Group 2 (problematic drinkers; >?14 standard drinking/week for men, >?7 standard drinking/week for women). As drinking patterns can be influenced by age/sex, a regression analysis was performed in another four groups (men/women, age?