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Association of Lifetime Alcohol Drinking Trajectories with Cardiometabolic Risk

Prevention Research Center (A.Z.F., M.R.), Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, California 94704; Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (S.S., J.D., M.T.), School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14214; and Clinical Science Research Institute (S.S.), University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Marcia Russell, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Prevention Research Center, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 450, Berkeley, California 94704. E-mail: russell{at}prev.org.

Context and Objective: Alcohol intakes may vary considerably over a drinker’s lifetime. This study was designed to examine whether lifetime drinking trajectories are associated with cardiovascular risk factors that are used to define the metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Design, Setting, Participants, and Outcomes: This is a population-based cross-sectional study. Participants were ever-regular drinkers (n = 2818) selected from healthy controls for the Western New York Health Study (1996–2001) in which lifetime lifestyle was ascertained retrospectively. Prevalence of the MetS and its individual components, including obesity, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and high fasting glucose, were the main outcomes.

Results: Trajectory analyses were based on estimates of total kilograms of ethanol for each age decade between 10 and 59 yr. Two groups of drinkers with distinct lifetime drinking trajectories were obtained, an early peak and a stable trajectory group. Compared with stable trajectory drinkers, early-peak drinkers were 10 yr younger on average, had earlier onset of regular drinking, drank heavily in late adolescence and early adulthood tapering off in middle age, averaged more drinks per drinking day in lifetime, and were more likely to abstain when interviewed. After controlling for age, sex, and other potential confounders, early-peak trajectories were modestly associated with high odds of the MetS [1.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00, 1.71] overall, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.62; 95% CI 1.27, 2.08), abdominal obesity (1.48; 95% CI 1.23, 1.78), and overweight (1.32; 95% CI 1.10, 1.60).

Conclusion: Early initiation of alcohol drinking and heavy drinking in adolescence and early adulthood may be associated with an adverse cardiometabolic profile.

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				S. Stranges, M. Russell, A. Z. Fan, J. Dorn, and M. Trevisan Letter by Stranges et al Regarding Article, "To Drink or Not to Drink? That Is the Question" Circulation, February 12, 2008; 117(6): e159 - e159. [Full Text] [PDF]