HQ Team
April 27, 2024: A study by the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, has found a link between alcohol consumption and Peripheral artery disease (PAD). Researchers at the institute have found a U-shaped association between alcohol consumption and risk for PAD.
The risk was seen as negligent among people who imbibed two drinks per week and went up for those who had at least 10 drinks a week.
“Given that alcohol consumption is a common health-related behavior and has inconsistent associations with PAD, an appraisal of the association between alcohol consumption and PAD risk is of great importance for disease prevention,” Shuai Yuan, PhD student in the unit of cardiovascular and nutritional epidemiology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues wrote.
The researchers did a meta-analysis and review of previous studies evaluating the association between alcohol consumption and PAD risk. They then incorporated data from these studies along with data from the Swedish Infrastructure for Medical Population-Based Life-Course and Environmental Research (SIMPLER; n = 70,116) and the UK Biobank (n = 405,406) cohort studies.
After pooling data from the SIMPLER and UK Biobank cohorts, researchers identified 21,643 cases of PAD.
Results of a nonlinear analysis showed U-shaped association, wherein the light drinkers had the lowest risk for developing PAD, and the risk was highest among high-rate drinkers.
“Light-to-moderate consumption of alcohol was associated with reduced risk of PAD in this meta-analysis of observational studies,” the researchers wrote. “The study further indicated a U-shaped association between alcohol consumption and PAD risk with the risk of PAD becoming more pronounced for alcohol consumption of more than 10 drinks per week. Taking all potential health consequences of alcohol intake into consideration, it is not recommended to initiate alcohol drinking for abstainers.”
The study was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
Peripheral artery disease
Peripheral arterial disease is defined as an atherosclerotic disease of the non-cardiac vessels that affect the lower extremity vessels more commonly. The worldwide prevalence of lower extremity PAD is between 3 and 12% . The most important risk factors involved are aging, smoking, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Alcohol consumption association studies are undetermined and ongoing. But there is some compelling evidence of the causation.
Previous studies have shown an association between alcohol consumption and PAD. Another study by researchers at the Karolinska Institute found a similar connection among heavy drinkers and Pad. Higher alcohol consumption predicted by genetics was associated with elevated risk for peripheral artery disease and stroke.
