Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Alcohol consumption and blood pressure change: 5-year follow-up study of the association in normotensive workers

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 15, pages 367–372 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

This study endeavours to clarify the effect of alcohol consumption on changes in the blood pressure of Japanese men. The subjects, who were followed from 1990 to 1995, were 2189 male normotensive steelworkers aged from 40 to 54 years in 1990. Drinking habits were represented by two variables: average daily baseline alcohol consumption, and change in alcohol consumption during the observation period, both derived from self-report questionnaires and interviews. Nine other items were analysed as covariates: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, age, body mass index (BMI), salt intake, physical activity, and levels of gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GTP), uric acid and plasma glucose in 1990. The association between drinking habits and blood pressure was evaluated using ANCOVA. Subjects who had initiated antihypertensive therapy by 1995 were excluded from this dataset. The results of analysis disclosed that both daily alcohol consumption and its change were significantly associated with changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure during the observation period. J-shaped associations of daily alcohol consumption with adjusted changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were found. Positive associations were observed between changes in alcohol consumption and adjusted changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, daily alcohol consumption was associated non-linearly with changes in blood pressure and with a threshold effect at 18 ml of ethanol per day in these middle-aged Japanese workers. In addition, increasing alcohol consumption was associated with blood pressure elevation, and decreasing consumption was associated with suppression of blood pressure elevation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dyer AR et alAlcohol consumption, cardiovascular risk factors, and mortality in two Chicago epidemiologic studies Circulation 1977 56 1067–1074

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kozararevic DJ et alFrequency of alcohol consumption and morbidity and mortality Lancet 1980 2 613–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kiyohara Y et alThe impact of alcohol and hypertension on stroke incidence in a general Japanese population Stroke 1995 26 368–372

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Iso H et alAlcohol intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged Japanese men Stroke 1995 26 767–773

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Klastky AL, Friedman GD, Armstrong MA The relationship between alcoholic beverage use and other traits to blood pressure: a new Kaiser Permanente study Circulation 1986 73 628–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Keil U, Chambless L, Remmers A Alcohol and blood pressure: results from the Luebeck blood pressure study Prev Med 1989 18 1–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. MacMahon SW, Blacket RB, Macdonald GJ, Hall W Obesity, alcohol consumption and blood pressure in Australian men and women: The National Heart Foundation of Australia risk factor prevalence study J Hypertens 1984 2 85–91

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Klatsky AL, Friedman GD, Siegelaub AB, Gerard MJ Alcohol consumption and blood pressure N Engl J Med 1977 296 1194–1200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Harburg E, Ozugoren F, Hawthorne VM, Schork MA Community norms of alcohol usage and blood pressure: Tecumseh, Michigan Am J Pub Health 1980 70 813–820

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Sun M, Jones R Accuracy relationship of blood pressure devices between the AAMI SP 10 standard and the British Hypertension Society protocols Biomed Instrum Tech 1999 33 62–70

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. DeFrank RS, Jenkins CD, Rose RM A longitudinal investigation of the relationships among alcohol consumption, psychosocial factors, and blood pressure Psychosomatic Med 1987 49 236–249

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Nakanishi N et alRisk factors for the development of hypertension: a 6-year longitudinal study of middle aged Japanese men J Hypertens 1998 16 753–759

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Reed D, McGee D, Yano K Biological and social correlates of blood pressure among Japanese men in Hawaii Hypertension 1983 4 406–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Curtis AB et alAlcohol consumption and change in blood pressure among African Americans. The Pitt County Study Am J Epidemiol 1997 146 727–733

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Gordon T, Kannel WB Drinking and its relation to smoking, BP, blood lipids, and uric acid Arch Intern Med 1983 143 1366–1374

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Gordon T, Doyle JT Alcohol consumption and its relationship to smoking, weight, blood pressure, and blood lipids: The Albany Study Arch Intern Med 1986 146 262–265

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dyer AR et alAlcohol, cardiovascular risk factors and mortality: the Chicago experience Circulation 1981 64 (Suppl 3) 20–27

    Google Scholar 

  18. Malhotra H, Mehta SR, Mathur D, Khandelwal PD Pressor effects of alcohol in normotensive and hypertensive subjects Lancet 1985 7 584–586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Potter JF, Beevers DG Pressor effect of alcohol in hypertension Lancet 1984 6 119–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Puddey IB, Beilin LJ, Vandongen R Regular alcohol use raises blood pressure in treated hypertensive subjects. A randomized controlled trial Lancet 1987 9 647–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Parker M, Puddey IB, Beilin LJ, Vandongen R Two way factorial study of alcohol and salt restriction in treated hypertensive men Hypertension 1990 16 398–406

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Maheswaran R, Beevers M, Beevers DG Effectiveness of advice to reduce alcohol consumption in hypertensivepatients Hypertension 1992 19 79–84

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Ueshima H et alEffect of reduced alcohol consumption on blood pressure in untreated hypertensive men Hypertension 1993 21 248–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. MacMahon S Alcohol consumption and hypertension Hypertension 1987 9 111–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hygiene, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan

    Y Okubo, Y Suwazono, E Kobayashi & K Nogawa

Authors
  1. Y Okubo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Y Suwazono
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E Kobayashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K Nogawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y Okubo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Okubo, Y., Suwazono, Y., Kobayashi, E. et al. Alcohol consumption and blood pressure change: 5-year follow-up study of the association in normotensive workers. J Hum Hypertens 15, 367–372 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001191

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001191

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links