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Alcohol consumption and coronary artery calcium in middle-aged Japanese men.

Okamura T, Kadowaki T, Sekikawa A, Murata K, Miyamatsu N, Nakamura Y, El-Saed A, Kashiwagi A, Maegawa H, Nishio Y, Takamiya T, Kanda H, Mitsunami K, Kita Y, Edmundowicz D, Tamaki S, Tsujita Y, Kuller LH, Ueshima H

Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, and Department of Medicine, Kohka Public Hospital, Shiga, Japan. tokamura@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp

Epidemiologic studies have investigated the relation between alcohol intake and coronary calcification, with controversial results. Furthermore, the influence of heavy drinking has not been well elucidated. In the present study, a random sample of community-based Japanese men aged 40 to 49 years without a history of cardiovascular disease (n=245) were examined for coronary artery calcium (CAC) determined by electron-beam computed tomography and drinking status. There was a J-shaped association between alcohol intake and CAC. There was an increase of CAC in heavy drinkers (>or=46 g/day), and participants who were drinking>or=69 g/day showed a significant increase in CAC compared with never drinkers after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors.

Published 10 July 2006 in Am J Cardiol, 98(2): 141-4.
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