Influences of gender and age on relationships between alcohol drinking and atherosclerotic risk factors

Alcohol drinking affects atherosclerotic progression mainly through blood pressure and lipid metabolism. The purpose of the present study was to clarify whether effects of alcohol drinking on atherosclerotic risk factors differ by gender and age.

The database of periodic health check-ups for local district workers was used. The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to mean ethanol consumption per day (nondrinkers; light drinkers, less than 30 g per day; moderate-to-heavy drinkers, 30 g or more per day). The mean levels of each atherosclerosis-related variable in the 3 groups were compared.

The mean level of body mass index (BMI) was slightly but significantly lower in drinkers than in nondrinkers in the thirties, forties, and fifties age groups in men and in the twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties age groups in women, while this tendency was not found in the sixties age groups of men and women. In men, mean blood pressure was higher in moderate-to-heavy drinkers than in nondrinkers in all age groups and was higher in light drinkers than in nondrinkers only in the age groups after 40 years. Mean blood pressure of women was higher in the moderate-to-heavy drinker group than in the nondrinker group and this difference became higher with advance of age. In women, mean blood pressure was not affected by light drinking in any of the age groups except for the fifties age group. In men, serum total cholesterol was higher in drinkers than in nondrinkers in the twenties age group but was lower in drinkers than in nondrinkers at thirties or older. Serum total cholesterol in women was lower in drinkers than in nondrinkers in the age groups from twenties to forties but tended to be higher in drinkers than in nondrinkers in the sixties age group. Serum HDL cholesterol increased with advance of age from thirties to sixties in men, while it decreased with advance of age from twenties to sixties in women. Serum HDL cholesterol was higher in drinkers than in nondrinkers in all age groups of men and women, and atherogenic index, calculated by using serum total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol concentrations, was lower in drinkers than in nondrinkers in all age groups of men and women.

Both in men and women, blood pressure and HDL cholesterol were strongly affected by alcohol drinking: the elevating effect of alcohol drinking on blood pressure was more prominent in the elderly than in the young, while the elevating effect of alcohol drinking on serum HDL cholesterol was not influenced by age. Relationships of drinking with total cholesterol and BMI vary by age and gender.