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:

Different effect of alcohol consumption on hypertension according to metabolic health status

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 30, pages 591–598 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

We aimed to investigate whether the effect of problematic alcohol drinking on hypertension differed according to metabolic health statuses. Male participants from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were recruited. Problematic alcohol drinkers were designated as subjects with heavy drinking (⩾30 g per day), binge drinking (⩾7 glasses per day) or a high alcohol use disorders identification test score (⩾20). Metabolically obese status was defined as having ⩾1 or ⩾2 components of the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, excluding the blood pressure component. Because the prevalence of problematic alcohol drinking and the prevalence of hypertension largely differed by age groups, separate analyses were performed for the two age groups (<50 and ⩾50 years). Among a total of 6329 subjects, 37.04% had hypertension. In the younger age group, subjects with problematic alcohol drinking demonstrated a higher prevalence of hypertension in both nonobese and obese individuals compared with subjects who were nonobese and who were not problematic alcohol drinkers. Of note, problematic alcohol drinking increased the risk of having hypertension ∼3 times in young nonobese individuals who demonstrated a metabolically obese phenotype compared with those who were metabolically healthy. However, metabolic health status did not have a significant impact on the risk for having hypertension in obese participants, regardless of their age groups. For the prevention of hypertension, avoidance of problematic alcohol drinking should be emphasized, especially in young subjects who show poor metabolic health status despite being nonobese.

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

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lian C . L’alcoholisme cause d’hypertension arterielle. Bull Acad Med 1915; 74: 525–528.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Estruch R, Coca A, Rodicio JL . High blood pressure, alcohol and cardiovascular risk. J Hypertens 2005; 23: 226–229.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Beilin LJ, Puddey IB . Alcohol and hypertension: an update. Hypertension 2006; 47: 1035–1038.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kotsis V, Stabouli S, Papakatsika S, Rizos Z, Parati G . Mechanisms of obesity-induced hypertension. Hypertens Res 2010; 33: 386–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gu D, Kelly TN, Wu X, Chen J, Duan X, Huang JF et al. Blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease in Chinese men and women. Am J Hypertens 2008; 21: 265–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kotsis V, Stabouli S, Bouldin M, Low A, Toumanidis S, Zakopoulos N . Impact of obesity on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure and hypertension. Hypertension 2005; 45: 602–607.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Grassi GM, Somers VK, Renk WS, Abboud FM, Mark AL . Effects of alcohol intake on blood pressure and sympathetic nerve activity in normotensive humans: a preliminary report. J Hypertens Suppl 1989; 7: S20–S21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kang YS . Obesity associated hypertension: new insights into mechanism. Electrolyte Blood Press 2013; 11: 46–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nakanishi N, Yoshida H, Nakamura K, Suzuki K, Tatara K . Alcohol consumption and risk for hypertension in middle-aged Japanese men. J Hypertens 2001; 19: 851–855.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Li Y, Wang JG, Gao PJ, Wang GL, Qian YS, Zhu DL et al. Interaction between body mass index and alcohol intake in relation to blood pressure in HAN and SHE Chinese. Am J Hypertens 2006; 19: 448–453.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gu M, Qi Y, Li M, Niu W . Association of body mass index and alcohol intake with hypertension subtypes among HAN Chinese. Clin Exp Hypertens 2011; 33: 518–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Meigs JB, Wilson PW, Fox CS, Vasan RS, Nathan DM, Sullivan LM et al. Body mass index, metabolic syndrome, and risk of type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006; 91: 2906–2912.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Karelis AD, St-Pierre DH, Conus F, Rabasa-Lhoret R, Poehlman ET . Metabolic and body composition factors in subgroups of obesity: what do we know? J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004; 89: 2569–2575.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lee SH, Ha HS, Park YJ, Lee JH, Yim HW, Yoon KH et al. Identifying metabolically obese but normal-weight (MONW) individuals in a nondiabetic Korean population: the Chungju Metabolic disease Cohort (CMC) study. Clin Endocrinol 2011; 75: 475–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kang JH, Kim SS, Moon SS, Kim WJ, Bae MJ, Choi BG et al. Adiposity in the relationship between serum vitamin D level and insulin resistance in middle-aged and elderly Korean adults: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008. Endocrinol Metab 2013; 28: 96–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kim CS, Ko SH, Kwon HS, Kim NH, Kim JH, Lim S et al. Prevalence, awareness, and management of obesity in Korea: data from the Korea national health and nutrition examination survey (1998-2011). Diabetes Metab J 2014; 38: 35–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Roberts WC . The Friedewald-Levy-Fredrickson formula for calculating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the basis for lipid-lowering therapy. Am J Cardiol 1988; 62: 345–346.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ko SH, Kwon HS, Song KH, Ahn YB, Yoon KH, Yim HW et al. Long-term changes of the prevalence and control rate of hypertension among Korean adults with diagnosed diabetes: 1998-2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2012; 97: 151–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ko SH, Kwon HS, Kim DJ, Kim JH, Kim NH, Kim CS et al. Higher prevalence and awareness, but lower control rate of hypertension in patients with diabetes than general population: the fifth korean national health and nutrition examination survey in 2011. Diabetes Metab J 2014; 38: 51–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Corrao G, Rubbiati L, Bagnardi V, Zambon A, Poikolainen K . Alcohol and coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. Addiction 2000; 95: 1505–1523.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. World Health Organization. International Guide for Monitoring Alcohol Consumption and Related Harm 2000.

  22. Im HJ, Park SM, Choi JH, Choi EJ . Binge drinking and its relation to metabolic syndrome in korean adult men. Korean J Fam Med 2014; 35: 173–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Saunders JB, Aasland OG, Babor TF, de la Fuente JR, Grant M . Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption—II. Addiction 1993; 88: 791–804.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC, Saunders JB, Monteiro MG . The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Guidelines for Use in Primary Care. World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence: Geneva, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  25. World Health Organization Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. World Health Organization Technical Report Series, 2000.

  26. Tan CE, Ma S, Wai D, Chew SK, Tai ES . Can we apply the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel definition of the metabolic syndrome to Asians? Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 1182–1186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Luo W, Guo Z, Hao C, Yao X, Zhou Z, Wu M et al. Interaction of current alcohol consumption and abdominal obesity on hypertension risk. Physiol Behav 2013; 122: 182–186.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Klatsky AL . Alcohol and hypertension. Clin Chim Acta 1996; 246: 91–105.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Husain K, Ansari RA, Ferder L . Alcohol-induced hypertension: mechanism and prevention. World J Cardiol 2014; 6: 245–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Lindtner C, Scherer T, Zielinski E, Filatova N, Fasshauer M, Tonks NK et al. Binge drinking induces whole-body insulin resistance by impairing hypothalamic insulin action. Sci Transl Med 2013; 5: 170ra14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Seppa K, Sillanaukee P, Pitkajarvi T, Nikkila M, Koivula T . Moderate and heavy alcohol consumption have no favorable effect on lipid values. Arch Intern Med 1992; 152: 297–300.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. 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 

  33. de Timary P, Cani PD, Duchemin J, Neyrinck AM, Gihousse D, Laterre PF et al. The loss of metabolic control on alcohol drinking in heavy drinking alcohol-dependent subjects. PLoS ONE 2012; 7: e38682.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Conus F, Rabasa-Lhoret R, Peronnet F . Characteristics of metabolically obese normal-weight (MONW) subjects. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2007; 32: 4–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Sun K, Ren M, Liu D, Wang C, Yang C, Yan L . Alcohol consumption and risk of metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Clin Nutr 2014; 33: 596–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    H K Yang, K-H Yoon & S-H Lee

  2. Department of Medical Statistics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    K Han

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

    Y-M Park

  4. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Yeouido St Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    H-S Kwon

Authors
  1. H K Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Y-M Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H-S Kwon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. K-H Yoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S-H Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S-H Lee.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on the Journal of Human Hypertension website

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yang, H., Han, K., Park, YM. et al. Different effect of alcohol consumption on hypertension according to metabolic health status. J Hum Hypertens 30, 591–598 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2015.102

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2015.102

Search

Advanced search

Quick links