Alcohol and Hypertension: Implications for Prevention and Treatment

Excerpt

A role for alcohol consumption in the determination of blood pressure levels and the prevalence of hypertension was suggested as early as 1915 (1). However, only in the past decade has alcohol received widespread, serious consideration as a potentially important factor in the development of high blood pressure. This attention has, for the most part, been due to repeated demonstrations in cross-sectional population studies of a positive association between levels of daily alcohol consumption and blood pressure, independent of potential confounding factors such as age and body mass index. These studies have indicated that blood pressure is elevated not only