Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.

Observational studies suggest alcohol use promotes the development of some adverse cardiometabolic traits but protects against others including outcomes related to coronary artery disease. We used Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore causal relationships between the degree of alcohol consumption...

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Main Authors: Joanna Lankester, Daniela Zanetti, Erik Ingelsson, Themistocles L Assimes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255801&type=printable
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author Joanna Lankester
Daniela Zanetti
Erik Ingelsson
Themistocles L Assimes
author_facet Joanna Lankester
Daniela Zanetti
Erik Ingelsson
Themistocles L Assimes
author_sort Joanna Lankester
collection DOAJ
description Observational studies suggest alcohol use promotes the development of some adverse cardiometabolic traits but protects against others including outcomes related to coronary artery disease. We used Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore causal relationships between the degree of alcohol consumption and several cardiometabolic traits in the UK Biobank. Using the well-established ADH1B Arg47His variant (rs1229984) and up to 24 additional SNPs recently found to be associated with alcohol consumption in an independent dataset as instruments, we conducted two-stage least squares and inverse weighted variance MR analyses, both as one-sample analyses in the UK Biobank and as two-sample analyses in external consortia. In the UK Biobank inverse variance weighted analyses, we found that one additional drink of alcohol per day was positively associated with systolic blood pressure (beta = 2.65 mmHg [1.40, 3.89]), hemorrhagic stroke (OR = 2.25 [1.41, 3.60]), and atrial fibrillation (OR = 1.26 [1.07, 1.48]), which were replicated in multivariable analyses. Alcohol was also associated with all cardiovascular disease and all-cause death. A positive association with myocardial infarction did not replicate in multivariable analysis, with suggestive mediation through blood pressure; similarly, a positive association between alcohol use with type 2 diabetes was mitigated by BMI in multivariable analysis. Findings were generally null in replication with two-sample analyses. Alcohol was not protective for any disease outcome with any analysis method, dataset, or strata. Stratifications by sex and smoking in the UK Biobank revealed higher point estimates of risk for several outcomes for men and mixed results for smoking strata, but no statistically significant heterogeneity. Our results are consistent with an overall harmful and/or null effect of alcohol on cardiometabolic health at all levels of use and suggest that even moderate alcohol use should not be promoted as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.
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spelling doaj-art-d7710c000f8c4f35b56b108eeacf04212025-08-20T03:25:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01168e025580110.1371/journal.pone.0255801Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.Joanna LankesterDaniela ZanettiErik IngelssonThemistocles L AssimesObservational studies suggest alcohol use promotes the development of some adverse cardiometabolic traits but protects against others including outcomes related to coronary artery disease. We used Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore causal relationships between the degree of alcohol consumption and several cardiometabolic traits in the UK Biobank. Using the well-established ADH1B Arg47His variant (rs1229984) and up to 24 additional SNPs recently found to be associated with alcohol consumption in an independent dataset as instruments, we conducted two-stage least squares and inverse weighted variance MR analyses, both as one-sample analyses in the UK Biobank and as two-sample analyses in external consortia. In the UK Biobank inverse variance weighted analyses, we found that one additional drink of alcohol per day was positively associated with systolic blood pressure (beta = 2.65 mmHg [1.40, 3.89]), hemorrhagic stroke (OR = 2.25 [1.41, 3.60]), and atrial fibrillation (OR = 1.26 [1.07, 1.48]), which were replicated in multivariable analyses. Alcohol was also associated with all cardiovascular disease and all-cause death. A positive association with myocardial infarction did not replicate in multivariable analysis, with suggestive mediation through blood pressure; similarly, a positive association between alcohol use with type 2 diabetes was mitigated by BMI in multivariable analysis. Findings were generally null in replication with two-sample analyses. Alcohol was not protective for any disease outcome with any analysis method, dataset, or strata. Stratifications by sex and smoking in the UK Biobank revealed higher point estimates of risk for several outcomes for men and mixed results for smoking strata, but no statistically significant heterogeneity. Our results are consistent with an overall harmful and/or null effect of alcohol on cardiometabolic health at all levels of use and suggest that even moderate alcohol use should not be promoted as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255801&type=printable
spellingShingle Joanna Lankester
Daniela Zanetti
Erik Ingelsson
Themistocles L Assimes
Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
PLoS ONE
title Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
title_full Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
title_fullStr Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
title_full_unstemmed Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
title_short Alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study.
title_sort alcohol use and cardiometabolic risk in the uk biobank a mendelian randomization study
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255801&type=printable
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