Urinary Ethyl Glucuronide as Measure of Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Population‐Based Cohort Study

Abstract

Background Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all‐cause mortality compared with heavy drinkers and abstainers. To date, studies have relied on self‐reported consumption, which may be prone to misclassification. Urinary ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an alcohol metabolite and validated biomarker for recent alcohol consumption. We aimed to examine and compare the associations of self‐reported alcohol consumption and EtG with CVD and all‐cause mortality. Methods and Results In 5676 participants of the PREVEND (Prevention of Renal and Vascular End‐Stage Disease) study cohort, EtG was measured in 24‐hour urine samples and alcohol consumption questionnaires were administered. Participants were followed up for occurrence of first CVD and all‐cause mortality. Cox proportional hazards regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and CVD risk factors, were fitted for self‐reported consumption, divided into 5 categories: abstention, 1 to 4 units/month (reference), 2 to 7 units/week, 1 to 3 units/day, and ≥4 units/day. Similar models were fitted for EtG, analyzed as both continuous and categorical variables. Follow‐up times differed for CVD (8 years; 385 CVD events) and all‐cause mortality (14 years; 724 deaths). For both self‐reported alcohol consumption and EtG, nonsignificant trends were found toward J‐shaped associations between alcohol consumption and CVD, with higher risk in the lowest (hazard ratio for abstention versus 1–4 units/month, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.02–1.98) and highest drinking categories (hazard ratio for ≥4 units/day versus 1–4 units/month, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.68–1.84). Neither self‐report nor EtG was associated with all‐cause mortality. Conclusions Comparable associations with CVD events and all‐cause mortality were found for self‐report and EtG. This argues for the validity of self‐reported alcohol consumption in epidemiologic research.

Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality

“…There were 87 studies identified by Stockwell et al 8 After inclusion of 20 new studies meeting inclusion criteria, there were a total of 107 cohort studies (eTable 1 in Supplement 1). [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Three coders (J. Z., F. A., and J. C.) reviewed all eligible studies to extract and code data independently from all studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria.…”

The metabolomic signature of weight loss in the Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT)

“…In support of this, the logistic regression analysis here revealed between group differences in the frequency of detection of both potential dietary biomarkers and medications. For example, S-allylcysteine, a biomarker for garlic consumption (35, 36) was enriched in the intervention group whilst ethyl glucuronide, a validated urine biomarker for alcohol consumption (37, 38) was depleted. The logistic regression also suggests an apparent depletion of imidazole proprionate.…”

Self-reported alcohol consumption, carbohydrate deficient transferrin and risk of cardiovascular disease: The PREVEND prospective cohort study

“…The %CDT was calculated as the percentage of total transferrin concentrations. The reference values for %CDT ranged from 1.19% to 2.47% (1st-99th percentile) [31]. In comparison, values for %CDT have been reported to range from 1.01 to 2.85% in healthy subjects with an upper reference limit of 2.35% (97.5th percentile) using the N latex CDT direct immunonephelometric assay for serum CDT [30].…”