Alcohol and hypertension: An analysis using The Health Survey for England 2014

Abstract

Aims: This study aims to model the risk relationships between alcohol consumption and hypertension, as alcohol is likely an important modifiable risk factor in treating hypertension and an important lifestyle variable to be taken into consideration by policy makers and physicians. Design/Participants/Measures: This cross-sectional study uses data from the The Health Survey for England to perform a correlational analysis, as well as multinomial and binomial modeling to evaluate alcohol’s impact on hypertension outcomes, all while controlling for relevant covariates (age, sex, smoking, exercise, body mass index, and education). Findings: Findings indicate that alcohol consumption correlates with blood pressure and hypertension, yet the significance of these findings is weakened by large between-person variability and by confounding factors. Conclusions: Based on these results, for the best cardiovascular health outcomes, we suggest that it is best to err on the side of caution and recommend, regarding alcohol intake, very limited (in the case of healthy patients) to no (for those with hypertension) alcohol consumption.