Effect of alcohol abstinence on aortic stiffness in mid-life adult at-risk drinkers

Introduction: Drinking over the recommended limits, or at-risk drinking, is associated with aortic stiffening, which contributes to an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. However, whether alcohol reduction/abstinence reduces aortic stiffness in mid-life adults remains unknown. Objective: This study aims to investigate the effects of 8-week alcohol abstinence on aortic stiffness in mid-life adults who drink over the recommended limit, or at-risk drinkers. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that an 8-week alcohol abstinence intervention would reduce aortic stiffness in mid-life at-risk drinkers. Methods: A total of 12 midlife men and 5 postmenopausal women (age 58.2±4.0 years and body mass index: 28.3±4.4 kg/m 2 ; mean±SD), who were at-risk drinkers and free of major clinical diseases and smoking, completed an 8-week alcohol abstinence intervention. Seven participants were on anti-hypertensive medications (≥2 months). Before and after the intervention, participants completed the in-laboratory assessment of arterial stiffness (measured as carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV) as well as supine peripheral and aortic blood pressure (BP). Alcohol use was monitored by using both an alcohol biomarker (dried blood spot phosphatidylethanol, PEth) and self-report questionnaires (14-day timeline followback calendar for calculating weekly alcohol consumption and U.S. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for calculating the USAUDIT-C score). Results: Following the 8-week alcohol abstinence intervention, cfPWV decreased only in participants who were free of anti-hypertensive medications (n=11; 8.7±1.6 to 7.4±0.9 m/sec, P< 0.001), while it remained unchanged in participants taking anti-hypertensive medications (n=7; 8.5±0.9 to 8.5±1.0 m/sec, P=0.861; P=0.006 for the time × medication use interaction effect). No changes were found in supine peripheral and aortic BP following the intervention (P≥0.397 for time effect). Alcohol intake significantly decreased as evidenced by a reduction in PEth (65.1±59.9 to 14.2±41.5 ng/mL, P<0.001), weekly alcohol consumption (14.9±9.3 to 0.2±0.4 drinks/week, P<0.001), and the USAUDIT-C score 9.7±2.4 to 2.4±3.7, P ≤0.001;). Conclusions: Our preliminary findings indicate that the 8-week abstinence intervention reduced aortic stiffness in mid-life adult at-risk drinkers, free of anti-hypertensive medication use, without change in supine BP. These findings suggest that reducing or eliminating alcohol use can result in de-stiffening effect of the aorta in mid-life adults. Funding Resources: NIAAA AA028537 to CLH This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.