Effect of Alcohol Abstinence on Blood Pressure in Mid-Life Heavy Drinkers

Introduction: One in five mid-life adults report heavy alcohol use, which exceeds the recommended drinking limit. Alcohol use is associated with an increased risk for hypertension. However, the effect of alcohol abstinence intervention on blood pressure (BP) in mid-life adults remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the effect of an 8-week alcohol abstinence intervention on BP in mid-life adult heavy drinkers. Methods: Eight mid-life men and four postmenopausal women, heavy drinkers and free of major clinical diseases and smoking, were included (age: 59 ± 4 yrs and body mass index: 27.5 ± 3.9 kg/m2; mean±SD). All participants were asked to abstain from alcoholic beverages for 8 weeks and received a 30-min virtual behavioral consultation session, every 2 weeks. During the intervention, alcohol use was monitored by measuring dried blood spot phosphatidylethanol (PEth; ≥20 ng/mL indicates positive test or heavy alcohol use) every 4 weeks and using the 14-day Timeline Follow-Back calendar every 2 weeks. Office seated BP (ProBP 2400, Welch Allyn®), supine central BP (SphygmoCor XCEl, AtCor Medical) and 24-hr ambulatory BP (Oscar 2TM, SunTech Medical®) were measured at pre- and post-intervention. Results: Before the intervention, all participants had a positive PEth (range: 22-213 ng/mL) and consumed 14.5±8.7 drinks/week. Throughout the intervention, both PEth levels and self-report alcohol use decreased, with two participants having a positive PEth test and an average alcohol consumption of 0.2±0.5 drinks/week after the intervention. Following the intervention, office diastolic BP decreased (pre- vs. post-intervention: 80±8 vs. 74±7 mmHg; P=0.02), with no statistical significance in office systolic BP (132±14 vs. 122±14 mmHg; P=0.068). There were significant decreases following the intervention in nighttime systolic (119±15 vs. 113±12; P=0.048) and diastolic BP (67±10 vs. 62±5; P=0.009), as well as systolic BP morning surge (29±11 vs. 21±11 mmHg; P=0.01). No difference between pre- and post-intervention was found in daytime BP (systolic: 130±12 vs. 127±11 mmHg, P=0.3; diastolic: 78±6 vs. 75±7 mmHg, P=0.2) and nighttime BP dipping ratio (systolic: 9±7 vs. 11±5 mmHg, P=0.3; diastolic: 13±10 vs. 17±6 mmHg, P=0.2), as well as central BP (systolic: 120±11 vs. 118±12 mmHg, P=0.4; diastolic: 79±8 vs. 77±6 mmHg; P=0.3). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the 8-week alcohol abstinence intervention is effective in reducing BP for mid-life adult heavy drinkers. NIAAA AA028537 to CLH This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.