Introduction and objectives. To assess prospectively
the association between alcohol consumption, including
alcoholic beverage preference and days of consumption
per week, and the risk of hypertension in a Mediterranean
cohort.
Methods. We prospectively followed 9,963 Spanish men
and women initially without hypertension. Self-reported
and validated data on diet and hypertension diagnoses
were collected.
Results. During follow-up (median [interquartile range],
4.2 [2.5-6.1] years), 554 incident cases of hypertension
were identified over a total of 43,562 person-years. The
hazard ratio for hypertension among those who consumed
alcohol on ≥5 days per week was 1.28 (95% confidence
interval, 0.97-1.7) compared to abstainers. Among those
who drank alcohol ≥5 days per week, the hazard ratio for
hypertension associated with consuming ≥1 drink per day
was 1.45 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-2) compared
with abstainers. The consumption of beer or spirits,
but not wine, was associated with an increased risk of
hypertension. The hazard ratio associated with consuming
>0.5 drinks of beer or spirits per day was 1.53 (95%
confidence interval, 1.18-1.99) compared with abstainers.
In contrast, there was a nonsignificant inverse association
between red wine intake and the risk of hypertension.
Conclusions. In this Mediterranean population,
the consumption of beer or spirits, but not wine, was
associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension.
However, the weekly pattern of alcohol consumption did
not have a significant impact on the risk of hypertension