Alcohol consumption in relation to carotid subclinical atherosclerosis and its progression: results from a European longitudinal multicentre study

Federica Laguzzi; Damiano Baldassarre; Fabrizio Veglia; Rona J Strawbridge; Steve E Humphries; Rainer Rauramaa; Andries J Smit; Philippe Giral; Angela Silveira; Elena Tremoli; Anders Hamsten; Ulf de Faire; Paolo Frumento; Karin Leander; IMPROVE Study group

doi:10.1007/s00394-020-02220-5

Alcohol consumption in relation to carotid subclinical atherosclerosis and its progression: results from a European longitudinal multicentre study

Eur J Nutr. 2021 Feb;60(1):123-134. doi: 10.1007/s00394-020-02220-5. Epub 2020 Mar 24.

Authors

Federica Laguzzi¹, Damiano Baldassarre^{2

3}, Fabrizio Veglia³, Rona J Strawbridge^{4

5}, Steve E Humphries⁶, Rainer Rauramaa^{7

8}, Andries J Smit⁹, Philippe Giral¹⁰, Angela Silveira⁵, Elena Tremoli³, Anders Hamsten⁵, Ulf de Faire^{11

12}, Paolo Frumento¹³, Karin Leander¹¹; IMPROVE Study group

Collaborators

IMPROVE Study group:
C R Sirtori, S Castelnuovo, M Amato, B Frigerio, A Ravani, D Sansaro, C Tedesco, D Coggi, A Bonomi, M J Eriksson, J Cooper, J Acharya, K Huttunen, E Rauramaa, H Pekkarinen, I M Penttila, J Törrönen, A I van Gessel, A M van Roon, G C Teune, W D Kuipers, M Bruin, A Nicolai, P Haarsma-Jorritsma, D J Mulder, H J G Bilo, G H Smeets, J L Beaudeux, J F Kahn, V Carreau, A Kontush, J Karppi, T Nurmi, K Nyyssönen, R Salonen, T P Tuomainen, J Tuomainen, J Kauhanen, G Vaudo, A Alaeddin, D Siepi, G Lupattelli, E Mannarino

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 13, Box 210, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden. federica.laguzzi@ki.se.
² Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
³ Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
⁴ Institute of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
⁵ Cardiovascular Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics, Institute Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Foundation for Research in Health Exercise and Nutrition, Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, Kuopio, Finland.
⁸ Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
⁹ Department of Medicine, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Service Endocrinologie-Métabolisme, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpétrière, Unités de Prévention Cardiovasculaire, Paris, France.
¹¹ Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 13, Box 210, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹² Department of Cardiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Unit of Biostatistics, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 13, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

Background/aim: The association between alcohol consumption and subclinical atherosclerosis is still unclear. Using data from a European multicentre study, we assess subclinical atherosclerosis and its 30-month progression by carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) measurements, and correlate this information with self-reported data on alcohol consumption.

Methods: Between 2002-2004, 1772 men and 1931 women aged 54-79 years with at least three risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) were recruited in Italy, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland. Self-reported alcohol consumption, assessed at baseline, was categorized as follows: none (0 g/d), very-low (0 - 5 g/d), low (> 5 to ≤ 10 g/d), moderate (> 10 to ≤ 20 g/d for women, > 10 to ≤ 30 g/d for men) and high (> 20 g/d for women, > 30 g/d for men). C-IMT was measured in millimeters at baseline and after 30 months. Measurements consisted of the mean and maximum values of the common carotids (CC), internal carotid artery (ICA), and bifurcations (Bif) and whole carotid tree. We used quantile regression to describe the associations between C-IMT measures and alcohol consumption categories, adjusting for sex, age, physical activity, education, smoking, diet, and latitude.

Results: Adjusted differences between median C-IMT values in different levels of alcohol consumption (vs. very-low) showed that moderate alcohol consumption was associated with lower C-IMT_max[- 0.17(95%CI - 0.32; - 0.02)], and Bif-IMT_mean[- 0.07(95%CI - 0.13; - 0.01)] at baseline and decreasing C-IMT_mean[- 0.006 (95%CI - 0.011; - 0.000)], Bif-IMT_mean[- 0.016(95%CI - 0.027; - 0.005)], ICA-IMT_mean[- 0.009(95% - 0.016; - 0.002)] and ICA-IMT_max[- 0.016(95%: - 0.032; - 0.000)] after 30 months. There was no evidence of departure from linearity in the association between alcohol consumption and C-IMT.

Conclusion: In this European population at high risk of CVD, findings show an inverse relation between moderate alcohol consumption and carotid subclinical atherosclerosis and its 30-month progression, independently of several potential confounders.

Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Atherosclerosis; Carotid intima-media thickness; Epidemiology; Progression.

Publication types

Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

Alcohol Drinking
Atherosclerosis* / epidemiology
Atherosclerosis* / etiology
Carotid Intima-Media Thickness*
Female
Finland
France
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Male
Netherlands
Risk Factors
Sweden

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding