Influence of body weight on the relationships of alcohol drinking with blood pressure and serum lipids in women

Objective: To determine whether body weight influences the associations of habitual alcohol drinking with blood pressure and serum lipids in women. Methods: The subjects were 16,805 healthy women at ages of 35-54 years, and data were collected at work places of the subjects in Yamagata Prefecture in Japan from April 1999 to March 2000. The subjects were divided into three tertile groups of body weight and were further divided into three subgroups by average ethanol intake [non-, light (< 15 g per day), and heavy (≥ 15 g per day) drinkers]. Results: In the first and second tertile groups of body weight, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure and prevalence of high systolic or diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher in heavy drinkers than in non-drinkers, while these differences were not observed in the third tertile group of body weight. On the other hand, in all tertile groups of body weight, mean serum HDL and LDL cholesterol levels were higher and lower, respectively, in light and heavy drinkers than in non-drinkers, and prevalence of low HDL cholesterol or high LDL cholesterol was significantly lower in heavy drinkers than in non-drinkers. Conclusions: The results suggest that body weight influences the association of alcohol drinking with blood pressure but not the associations of alcohol drinking with serum HDL and LDL cholesterol.