Longitudinal study of alcohol consumption and HDL concentrations: a community-based study

Abstract

In cross-sectional studies and short-term clinical trials, it has been suggested that there is a positive dose-response relation between alcohol consumption and HDL concentrations. However, prospective data have been limited. We sought to determine the association between total alcohol intake, the type of alcohol-containing beverage, and the 6-y (2006-2012) longitudinal change in HDL-cholesterol concentrations in a community-based cohort. A total of 71,379 Chinese adults (mean age: 50 y) who were free of cardiovascular diseases and cancer and did not use cholesterol-lowering agents during follow-up were included in the study. Alcohol intake was assessed via a questionnaire in 2006 (baseline), and participants were classified into the following categories of alcohol consumption: never, past, light (women: 0-0.4 servings/d; men: 0-0.9 servings/d), moderate (women: 0.5-1.0 servings/d; men: 1-2 servings/d), and heavy (women: >1.0 servings/d; men: >2 servings/d). HDL-cholesterol concentrations were measured in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. We used generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations between baseline alcohol intake and the change in HDL-cholesterol concentrations with adjustment for age, sex, smoking, physical activity, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, liver function, and C-reactive protein concentrations. An umbrella-shaped association was observed between total alcohol consumption and changes in HDL-cholesterol concentrations. Compared with never drinkers, past, light, moderate, and heavy drinkers experienced slower decreases in HDL cholesterol of 0.012 mmol · L · y (95% CI: 0.008, 0.016 mmol · L · y), 0.013 mmol · L · y (95% CI: 0.010, 0.016 mmol · L · y), 0.017 mmol · L · y (95% CI: 0.009, 0.025 mmol · L · y), and 0.008 mmol · L · y (95% CI: 0.005, 0.011 mmol · L · y), respectively ( < 0.0001 for all), after adjustment for potential confounders. Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with the slowest increase in total-cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride:HDL-cholesterol ratios. We observed a similar association between hard-liquor consumption and the HDL-cholesterol change. In contrast, greater beer consumption was associated with slower HDL-cholesterol decreases in a dose-response manner. Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with slower HDL-cholesterol decreases; however, the type of alcoholic beverage had differential effects on the change in the HDL-cholesterol concentration.

Prospective study of perceived dietary salt intake and the risk of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…From June 2006 to October 2007, 101 510 participants (81 110 men and 20 400 women aged 18–98 years) were recruited in 11 hospitals in the Kailuan community in Tangshan of China, a large modern city southeast of Beijing. The design and methods of the study have been described in detail previously . In brief, each participant was assessed by a questionnaire, clinical examination and laboratory assessment.…”

Alcohol consumption and probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

“…To assess the validity of self‐report alcohol consumption, we examined the association between alcohol intake and blood concentration of high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐c) in 71,379 participants of the Kailuan Study 13. As expected, we observed a dose–response relation between alcohol consumption and HDL‐c concentration in a cross‐sectional analysis 13…”

“…As detailed elsewhere,5, 12 participants of this study included 12,990 Chinese adults (10,725 men and 2265 women), who were free of Parkinson disease and dementia, a subset of an ongoing Chinese cohort, the Kailuan Study 5, 12, 13. In the current analysis, we further excluded 987 participants with a prior history of stroke, cancer, and head injury and 98 participants who did not provide information on alcohol intake or RBD, leaving 11,905 participants (9776 men and 2129 women).…”

“…Information on alcohol consumption was collected with questionnaire assessing current intake, with questions that included whether consuming any alcoholic beverage in the past 12 months, and if so, the beverage type (beer, wine, and hard liquor) and the amount and frequency of intake (“How many times do you drink in the past 30 days?”), as detailed previously 13. We calculated alcohol consumption in grams per day by multiplying the average times per day by the usual amount of each alcoholic beverage consumption and its average ethanol content (5.0 g for 100 g beer, 12.0 g for wine, and 40.0 g for hard liquor).…”

Alcohol Drinking and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Damage: A Meta‐Analysis of 15 Prospective Cohort Studies

“…The underlying mechanisms that accounted for the association between alcohol drinking and decreased chronic kidney damage risk were not precisely defined. One possible explanation might be the fact that alcohol drinking increased the levels of serum high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) or impeded the decrease in HDL‐cholesterol (Gaziano et al., ; Hojnacki et al., ; Huang et al., ), as low HDL was regarded as an independent risk factor for the development of kidney disease (Wahl et al., ). Another explanation was that alcohol drinking might be beneficial for renal vascularization, protecting kidney from injury by inhibiting hyalinization of renal arterioles (Burchfiel et al., ; Ronksley et al., ).…”