Alcohol and Hypertension

The nature of the association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure has been studied in 491 working men in Western Australia. The effect of alcohol on systolic blood pressure was seen to be independent of obesity, age, cigarette smoking, coffee or tea consumption, educational attainment or personality type. Ex-heavy drinkers had similar blood pressures to teetotallers. Men drinking the equivalent of three or more glasses of beer a day had a 10.4% prevalence of hypertension compared with 2.6% in teetotallers while the most introverted tertile of non-smoking drinkers had a 22% prevalence of hypertension. Possible mechanisms by which repeated alcohol ingestion might lead to hypertension are discussed in the light of hemodynamic and biochemical studies in pairs of drinkers and teetotallers.