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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: August 28, 2018
Alcohol consumption and coronary artery calcium in middle-aged Japanese men
Tomonori Okamura1, Takashi Kadowaki, Akira Sekikawa
1Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, and Department of Medicine, Kohka Public Hospital, Shiga, Japan. tokamura@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp
Abstract:
Epidemiologic studies have investigated the relation between alcohol intake and coronary calcification, with controversial results. Furthermore, the influence of heavy drinking has not been well elucidated. In the present study, a random sample of community-based Japanese men aged 40 to 49 years without a history of cardiovascular disease (n=245) were examined for coronary artery calcium (CAC) determined by electron-beam computed tomography and drinking status. There was a J-shaped association between alcohol intake and CAC. There was an increase of CAC in heavy drinkers (>or=46 g/day), and participants who were drinking>or=69 g/day showed a significant increase in CAC compared with never drinkers after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors.
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