Coronary Atherosclerosis and Alcohol Consumption

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Abstract
Objective— Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Whether this protection is based on a lesser degree of coronary atherosclerosis has not been established. Methods and Results— We studied 1676 men and 465 women consecutively undergoing coronary angiography. A score (ATS) was calculated by summing the percent lumen narrowing of all main vessels; alcohol consumption was quantitated by questionnaire. In univariate analysis, ATS was significantly ( P ≤0.001) associated with male sex, age, familial CVD, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and serum cholesterol levels; alcohol consumption was associated with less frequent diabetes ( P P =0.02). By multivariate analysis, alcohol intake was associated with lower ATS ( P Conclusions— In a selected high-risk population, moderate alcohol consumption was independently associated with less coronary atherosclerosis and lower risk for cardiac mortality.

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