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  • Trajectories of alcohol consumption up to 30 years before and after the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases: a longitudinal case–control study of 12 502 participants

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Original research
Trajectories of alcohol consumption up to 30 years before and after the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases: a longitudinal case–control study of 12 502 participants
  1. Chengyi Ding1,
  2. Dara O'Neill2,
  3. Annie Britton1
  1. 1 Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK
  2. 2 CLOSER, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Chengyi Ding, Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK; chengyi.ding.17{at}ucl.ac.uk

Abstract

Background To examine the longitudinal trajectories of alcohol consumption prior to and following the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Methods We conducted a case–control study of 2501 incident cases of angina, myocardial infarction or stroke and 10 001 matched controls without the condition. Repeated measures of alcohol were centred on the date of diagnosis, spanning up to 30 years before and after CVD onset. Mean trajectories of weekly consumption were estimated using growth curve models.

Results For trajectories prior to diagnosis, mean volume of alcohol consumed among male cases increased over time, peaking at around 8 years before diagnosis at 95 (95% CI 60 to 130) g/week and declining afterwards. Trajectories following diagnosis showed mean consumption in male cases dropped from 87 (95% CI 54 to 120) g/week to 74 (95% CI 45 to 102) g/week after the date of diagnosis and then slightly rose to 78 (95% CI 40 to 116) g/week at the subsequent 3.5 years, before gradually declining to 31 (95% CI 2 to 61) g/week at 30 years after diagnosis. Mean consumption among female cases remained stable prior to diagnosis (at about 30 g/week), fell marginally to 25 (95% CI 20 to 30) g/week after the date of diagnosis and kept decreasing afterwards. Similar trajectories were obtained in cases and controls.

Conclusions This is the first attempt to show how patients with CVD change their drinking volume over such a wide time span. Future research needs to establish insight into drinking behaviour in other ways (such as frequency and context) and address the impact of changes in drinking on patients with CVD.

  • cardiovascular diseases
  • longitudinal studies
  • behaviour
  • addictive
  • diet

Data availability statement

Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data from the EPIC-Norfolk study (https://www.epic-norfolk.org.uk/) and the Whitehall II study (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/research/epidemiology-and-public-health/research/whitehall-ii) are available to researchers upon application.

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2021-217237

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    Data availability statement

    Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data from the EPIC-Norfolk study (https://www.epic-norfolk.org.uk/) and the Whitehall II study (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/research/epidemiology-and-public-health/research/whitehall-ii) are available to researchers upon application.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors contributed to study design. CD analysed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and is the guarantor of the study. DO'N and AB were involved in the interpretation of results and critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors approved the submission of the final manuscript.

    • Funding This work was supported by the UCL Overseas Research Scholarship. The EPIC-Norfolk study (DOI 10.22025/2019.10.105.00004) has received funding from the Medical Research Council (MR/N003284/1, MC-UU_12015/1 and MC_UU_00006/1) and Cancer Research UK (C864/A14136).

    • Disclaimer The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data; preparation, review or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.