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Moderate alcohol consumption and atherosclerosis

Meta-analysis of effects on lipids and inflammation

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Summary

Objective

Alcohol consumption plays an important role in the risk of major cardiovascular diseases. We conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the association between moderate alcohol consumption and atherosclerosis.

Design

In this study four databases and reference lists of retrieved articles were searched to identify eligible studies. A meta-analysis was carried out of all interventional studies that assessed the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on concentrations of low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein A I, interleukin 6, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, fibrinogen, and other biomarkers previously found to be associated with risk of atherosclerosis.

Results

A total of 31 studies met the eligibility criteria. In response to moderate alcohol consumption, low density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased by 0.08 mmol/l (P = 0.05), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by 0.08 mmol/l (P < 0.00001), whereas total cholesterol and triglyceride remained the same. Moreover, interleukin 6 decreased by 0.43 pg/ml (P = 0.03), whereas C‑reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor a remained the same. Several hemostatic factors and adiponectin were modestly affected by alcohol consumption.

Conclusion

Moderate alcohol consumption is causally related to lower risk of atherosclerosis through changes in lipid profiles and inflammation.

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 81503063), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No: 2016A030310270) and Medical and health science and technology project of Guangzhou (No. 20161A011093).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of pharmacy, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 621 Harbour Road, 510700, Guangzhou, China

    Yunying Huang, Yongmei Li, Sichao Zheng, Xin Yang, Tenghua Wang & Jie Zeng

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  1. Yunying Huang
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  2. Yongmei Li
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  3. Sichao Zheng
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  4. Xin Yang
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Correspondence to Yunying Huang.

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Conflict of interest

Y. Huang, Y. Li, S. Zheng, X. Yang, T. Wang and J. Zeng declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Author contributions Y.H. and Y.L. carried out the search and abstracted the data for the analysis. S.Z. and X.Y. did the statistical analysis. T.W. and J.Z. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Y.H. will act as guarantor for the paper.

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Huang, Y., Li, Y., Zheng, S. et al. Moderate alcohol consumption and atherosclerosis. Wien Klin Wochenschr 129, 835–843 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-017-1235-6

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