Association of alcohol consumption with increase in aortic stiffness: a 9-year longitudinal study in middle-aged Japanese men.

A 9-year longitudinal study was performed to prospectively examine the association of alcohol consumption with development of aortic stiffness in 1121 aortic stiffness-free [aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) of less than 8.0 m/sec] Japanese men aged 35 to 59 years without definite hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes. 274 men developed aortic stiffness (aortic PWV of 8.0 m/sec or more) during 8872 person-years follow-up. After controlling for potential predictors of aortic stiffness, the relative risk for increased aortic stiffness compared with non-drinkers was 1.01 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62-1.64] for those who drank 0.1 to 22.9 g/day of ethanol, 1.71 (95% CI: 1.12-2.60) for those who drank 23.0 to 45.9 g/day of ethanol, 1.79 (95% CI: 1.18-2.71) for those who drank 46.0 to 68.9 g/day of ethanol, and 2.09 (95% CI: 1.35-3.26) for those who drank 69.0 or more g/day of ethanol (P for trend < 0.001). These results suggest that alcohol consumption is closely associated with development of aortic stiffness.