Alcohol Consumption and Its Relationship to Smoking, Weight, Blood Pressure, and Blood Lipids

• Between 1953 and 1955, a still-ongoing prospective cardiovascular study enrolled 1,910 employed men. Men who drank more alcohol had higher levels of cigarette use, blood pressure, and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. After 18 years of follow-up, the survivors consumed twice as much alcohol, on the average, as they had at entry, weighed slightly more, and had substantially higher blood pressures. Formerly heavy drinkers who had quit, however, lost weight and had less than average blood pressure increases. There was no significant association between changes in smoking habits and changes in drinking habits. (Arch Intern Med1986;146:262-265)