Prevalence alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in an Extremadura health area. Hermex Study

Objectives: Alcohol has been associated with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease. It has been our objective to determine the prevalence of use of alcohol and its association with the presence of cardiovascular risk factors (CRF). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena health area (Badajoz). Participants: We selected a random sample of 25 to 79 year olds, representative of the population. Methods: We collected a survey about the history of cardiovascular risk factors and alcohol consumption in the previous seven days. We measured blood pressure and a fasting blood sample was obtained. The association of alcohol consumption with the different CRF was studied by multivariate analysis, adjusting for different variables. Results: A total of 2833 subjects participated, with a mean age 51.2 (SD 14.7) years and 46.5% males. We detected 36.1% (95% CI 34.4 to 37.9) of alcohol consumers. The overall prevalence and consumption medium or high risk was 63.2% and 15.2% in men, and 12.6% and 1.5% in women, respectively. In men, consumption of medium-high risk was associated with hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and smoking. In women, low-risk consumption was associated with a lower prevalence of obesity and hypertension and higher smoking. Conclusions: We found a lower prevalence of alcohol use, especially in women, compared to the Spanish national average. The consumption of medium-high risk mainly affects men and is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. In women at low risk consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of certain CRF and increased smoking.