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(Circulation. 1997;95:577-580.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Prospective Study of Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Peripheral Arterial Disease in US Male Physicians

Carlos A. Camargo, Jr, MD; Meir J. Stampfer, MD; Robert J. Glynn, PhD; J. Michael Gaziano, MD; JoAnn E. Manson, MD; Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD; Charles H. Hennekens, MD

the Divisions of Preventive Medicine (C.A.C., R.J.G., J.M.G., J.E.M., C.H.H.), Channing Laboratory (M.J.S., J.E.M.), and Cardiology (J.M.G., S.Z.G.), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (C.A.C.), Harvard Medical School; Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School (C.H.H.); and Departments of Epidemiology (C.A.C., M.J.S., C.H.H.), Biostatistics (R.J.G.), and Nutrition (M.J.S.), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Carlos Camargo, MD, Clinics Bldg 116, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114-4225. E-mail camargoc@a1.mgh.harvard.edu.

Background Moderate alcohol consumption decreases the risk of coronary heart disease, but its relation to peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is uncertain.

Methods and Results In the Physicians' Health Study, a randomized trial of the use of aspirin and ß-carotene in 22 071 apparently healthy men, we documented 433 incident cases of PAD during 11 years of follow-up. After we controlled for age and treatment assignment, daily drinkers (7 drinks per week) had a relative risk (RR) of PAD of 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 0.72 to 1.17) compared with the reference group (<1 drink per week). After additional control for smoking, however, the RR was 0.68 (0.52 to 0.89). Further control for exercise, diabetes mellitus, and parental history of myocardial infarction revealed an RR of 0.74 (0.57 to 0.97).

Conclusions Moderate alcohol consumption appears to decrease the risk of PAD in apparently healthy men.

Key Words: alcohol • claudication • follow-up studies • peripheral vascular disease

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