Alcohol Intake and Triglycerides/High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Ratio in Men with Hypertension

BACKGROUND: The triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio has been proposed to be a good predictor of cardiovascular disease. The relationship between alcohol consumption and TG/HDL-C ratio in patients with hypertension is unknown. METHODS: Subjects were normotensive and hypertensive men aged 35-60 years who were divided by daily ethanol intake into non-, light (<22g/day), heavy (≥22 but <44g/day), and very heavy (≥44g/day) drinkers. RESULTS: The TG/HDL-C ratio was significantly higher in the hypertensive group than in the normotensive group. Both in the normotensive and hypertensive groups, TG/HDL-C ratio was significantly lower in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers than in nondrinkers and was lowest in light drinkers. In the hypertensive group, odds ratios (ORs) for high TG/HDL-C ratio (≥3.75) in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers vs. nondrinkers were significantly lower (P < 0.01) than a reference level of 1.00 (light drinkers: OR = 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.40-0.59; heavy drinkers: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.52-0.67; very heavy drinkers: OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.61-0.80) and were significantly lower than the corresponding ORs in the normotensive group. The ORs for hypertension in subjects with vs. subjects without high TG/HDL-C ratio were significantly higher than the reference level in all the alcohol groups and were significantly lower in light, heavy, and very heavy drinkers than in nondrinkers. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that there is an inverted J-shaped relationship between alcohol and TG/HDL-C ratio in individuals with hypertension and that alcohol weakens the positive association between TG/HDL-C ratio and hypertension.