Estudios científicos

Moderate Alcohol Use Is Associated with Reduced Cardiovascular Risk in Middle-Aged Men Independent of Health, Behavior, Psychosocial, and Earlier Life Factors

Abstract:

We examined whether the often-reported protective association of alcohol with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk could arise from confounding. Our sample comprised 908 men (56–67 years), free of prevalent CVD. Participants were categorized into 6 groups: never drinkers, former drinkers, and very light (1–4 drinks in past 14 days), light (5–14 drinks), moderate (15–28 drinks), and at-risk (>28 drinks) drinkers. Generalized linear mixed effect models examined the associations of alcohol use with three established CVD risk scores: The Framingham Risk Score (FRS); the atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) risk score; and the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) Severity score, adjusting for group differences in demographics, body size, and health-related behaviors. In separate models we additionally adjusted for several groups of potentially explanatory factors including socioeconomic status, social support, physical and mental health status, childhood factors, and prior history of alcohol misuse. Results showed lower CVD risk among light and moderate alcohol drinkers, relative to very light drinkers, for all CVD risk scores, independent of demographics, body size, and health-related behaviors. Alcohol-CVD risk associations were robust to further adjustment for several groups of potential explanatory factors. Study limitations include the all-male sample with limited racial and ethnic diversity, and the inability to adjust for sugar consumption and for patterns of alcohol consumption. Although this observational study does not address causation, results show that middle-aged men who consume alcohol in moderation have lower CVD risk and better cardiometabolic health than men who consume little or no alcohol, independent of a variety of health, behavioral, psychosocial, and earlier life factors.

Comentarios divulgativos:

El consumo ligero (de hasta 2 bebidas al día en hombres) se ha relacionado con un menor riesgo cardiovascular, pero se ha señalado que estos resultados podrían ser consecuencia de la presencia de factores de confusión que no han sido tenidos en cuenta: demográficos, conductuales, socioeconómicos, de estilo de vida, salud, antecedentes de alcoholismo u otras circunstancias acaecidas durante la infancia.

En este estudio los investigadores consideraron estos potenciales factores de confusión y observaron que el consumo ligero y moderado continuaba asociándose con un menor riesgo cardiovascular y cardiometabólico, en comparación con quienes bebían de forma esporádica (1-4 bebidas cada 14 días).

Asimismo, se observó que esta asociación “protectora” cardiovascular parecía ser más evidente entre los bebedores de vino, pero no había diferencias cuando se trataba del riesgo de síndrome metabólico.

Esta investigación incluyó datos de 908 hombres de mediana edad (56-67 años) sin enfermedad cardiovascular previa y consideró como potenciales variables de confusión: características demográficas, el tamaño corporal y conductas de salud, así como, el nivel socioeconómico, el sustento social, la salud física y mental, condicionantes durante la infancia y el historial de abuso de alcohol.