J Korean Acad Fam Med.  2007 Oct;28(10):768-773.

Association between Alcohol Consumption and hsCRP in Korean Adults

• Jo YH
• Choi EY
• Cheong YS
• Park EW
• Kim JH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases are major cause of death. In many countries, several studies reported moderate alcohol drink reduces cardiovascular diseases. High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is useful as a biochemical marker that can evaluate the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the association between alcohol consumption and hsCRP.
METHODS
The subjects included 769 men and 449 women who had visited a health promotion center in one university hospital from May 2006 to June 2006. They responded to self-reported questionnaire on past medical history, quantity and frequency of alcohol intake. Blood sample was taken to examine hsCRP, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride. The participants were classified into 4 groups in males and 3 groups in females by alcohol intake quantity. Using general linear model, analysis of covariance was done to evaluate the association between hsCRP and alcohol intake quantity after adjusting for smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, age, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.
RESULTS
Men who had drunk 1~4 drinks weekly had the lowest hsCRP. And a U-shaped correlation between alcohol intake quantity and hsCRP was found (P for U- shape trend test=0.059). In women, hsCRP decreased as the alcohol intake quantity increased (P for linear trend test= 0.0002).
CONCLUSION
In Korean males, U-shaped relationship was found between hsCRP and alcohol intake quantity. In Korean females, inverse relationship was found between them.

Keyword

amount of alcohol drinking; hsCRP; cardiovascular disease

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Alcohol Drinking*
Biomarkers
Blood Pressure
Body Mass Index
C-Reactive Protein
Cardiovascular Diseases
Cause of Death
Cholesterol
Cholesterol, HDL
Female
Health Promotion
Humans
Linear Models
Male
Smoke
Smoking
Triglycerides
Surveys and Questionnaires
C-Reactive Protein
Cholesterol
Cholesterol, HDL
Smoke
Triglycerides