Does Alcohol Raise Blood Pressure: The Connection

Of the 32 studies, two studied low‐dose alcohol, 12 studied medium‐dose alcohol, and 19 studied high‐dose alcohol. The sample size in the meta‐analysis for low‐dose comparison was not adequate to assess the effects of low doses of alcohol on BP and HR; however, we believe that the direction of the change in BP and HR was correct. For medium doses and high doses of alcohol, participants represented https://ecosoberhouse.com/ a range in terms of age, sex, and health condition. Because the participant population comprised predominantly young and healthy normotensive men, the overall evidence generated in this review cannot be extrapolated to women and older populations with other comorbidities. There is likely a dose‐response effect of alcohol on BP, as the effects of alcohol appeared to last longer with higher doses.

In about 16% of people with hypertension, alcohol consumption is a contributing factor. People who drink heavily nearly always have high blood pressure, and this can lead to other side effects, like fatty liver disease and heart disease. A person’s blood pressure usually drops once they stop misusing alcohol, but they may be at risk for hypertension again if they relapse and resume drinking. Going through a treatment program can help people learn to manage their alcohol use to prevent more serious health problems from developing later on. Although there was no association between alcohol intake and BP in woman with moderate consumption, a greater difference was observed when the consumption was excessive.

Keep Yourself at a Healthy Weight

While drinking water is not a « treatment » for high blood pressure, remaining well hydrated—by drinking six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day—may help keep your blood pressure under control along with other health measures. Excess weight and abdominal obesity, present in more than half of the sample, were significantly higher among individuals with elevated BP. Luo et al. [38] in their findings reinforce the fact that abdominal obesity presents an interaction with alcohol consumption, increasing the risk of hypertension. This is a cross-sectional study conducted using the baseline data of the ELSA-Brasil study.

• Ratings of the certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to low in this review, which suggests that the effect estimates of alcohol might be slightly different than the true effects.
• A moderate drinker is a woman who has one drink a day or a man who has two drinks.
• We calculated and reported mean difference (MD), with corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
• We followed the same formulae for combining groups if a study reported two different types of alcoholic beverages containing the same amount of alcohol.

Buckman 2015, Van De Borne 1997, and Fazio 2001 also reported reduced baroreflex sensitivity following alcohol consumption. Impairment of baroreflex sensitivity results in failure to sense the increase in heart rate and maintenance of cardiovascular homeostasis. Kawano 2000 reported a reduction in plasma potassium levels after alcohol consumption, which might provide another reason for the increase in heart rate.

Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension Study (PATHS): Effects of an Alcohol Treatment Program on Blood Pressure

The side effects of regular alcohol use can impact your mind, body, and social wellbeing. If you’re trying to treat alcoholism in yourself or a loved one it’s always a good idea to seek out the support of an alcohol treatment center with experienced medical staff. This will help to ease the transition and make your path to sobriety how does alcohol affect your blood pressure much more tolerable. If you or a loved one has made the decision to stop drinking, then reach out to our team today. In order for your blood to properly circulate throughout your body, pressure is required. A heart that’s healthy and functioning normally will pump blood throughout your body at relatively low blood pressure.

As described in our protocol, when we were unable to obtain the required SE/SD from study authors or by calculation from the reported P value or 95% CI, we imputed data according to the pre‐specified imputation hierarchy. We most often used the reported endpoint SE/SD value to impute the SE/SD of MD. This is known to provide a good approximation of the SD of change in BP so is unlikely to lead to bias. Also, only 10 out of 32 studies reported changes in MAP after alcohol consumption along with SE/SD (Buckman 2015; Dumont 2010; Foppa 2002; Karatzi 2005; Karatzi 2013; Kojima 1993; Maufrais 2017; Maule 1993; Narkiewicz 2000; Van De Borne 1997).

Limiting Alcohol to Manage High Blood Pressure

Lifestyle is a major cause of high blood pressure, and alcohol is among those unhealthy lifestyle choices. Excessive drinking can lead to hypertension either directly or indirectly, and it is estimated that about 10% of high blood pressure² cases in the general population can be linked to alcohol. There may be special blood pressure considerations for those living in high altitudes, such as Colorado, where we’re located. Although there is no clear evidence of an increased risk of blood pressure complications at high altitudes, there is marked interindividual variability in blood pressure responses at altitudes. So, as a result, people with uncontrolled blood pressure or very labile hypertension should monitor their blood pressure upon ascent to high altitude.

The more alcohol you drink, the more at risk you are for developing hypertension. Many people use moderation as a tool for harm-reduction and stepping stone towards sobriety. The behavioral intervention used in PATHS failed to produce the anticipated reduction in BP. However, beverage substitution may not be a satisfactory method to use over an extended period.

Many studies find that regular drinkers have a higher risk of high blood pressure than non-drinkers. Also, studies have found³ that heavy drinkers (more than 30 drinks per week) are twice as likely as non-drinkers to develop any type of hypertension. Drinking more than three drinks in a single sitting will temporarily cause your blood pressure to rise, but extended binge drinking or regular alcohol consumption can cause a permanent increase in blood pressure.

Moderate‐certainty evidence shows that SBP and DBP rise between 13 and 24 hours after alcohol ingestion. The blood alcohol level decreased over time, and 20‐HETE started to rise (Barden 2013). The hypertensive effect of alcohol after 13 hours of consumption could be the result of the rise in vasoconstrictors and the homeostatic response to restore blood pressure. Plasma renin activity was reported to be increased in Kawano 2000 as a late effect of alcohol consumption. We created a funnel plot using the mean difference (MD) from studies reporting effects of medium doses and high doses of alcohol on SBP, DBP, MAP, and HR against standard error (SE) of the MD to check for the existence of publication bias.

Carter 2011 published data only

We created three SoF tables to show the certainty of evidence and the summary of effects on outcomes of interest (SBP, DBP, and HR) for high (Table 1), medium (Table 2), and low doses (Table 3) of alcohol. We identified Stott 1987 and Barden 2013 from Analysis 3.1 and Analysis 3.2 as having a considerably lower standard error (SE) of the mean difference (MD) compared to the other included studies. Assuming that the low SEs of MDs reported in Stott 1987 and Barden 2013 are errors and are not reliable, we replaced these measures with the average SE of MD from the rest of the included studies. It is recommended that there should be at least 10 studies reporting each of the subgroups in question.