Kyu Pill Kim, Jong Sung Kim, Sung Soo Kim, Jin Kyu Jung, Seok Joon Yoon, Chang Jung Wei

Department of Family Medicine, Research Institute for Medical Sciences, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea


Background: Facial flushing response to drinking is observed in East Asians with deficient activity of the variant aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 genotype. This study examined the role of flushing response in the relationship between alcohol consumption and dyslipidemia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1,443 Korean men, including 261 non-drinkers, 470 flushers and 712 non-flushers. Based on a questionnaire, weekly alcohol consumption was assessed and categorized into 4 groups. Dyslipidemia was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. After adjusting for confounding factors, we evaluated the relationship between weekly alcoholic drinks and dyslipidemia in flushers and non-flushers by comparing with non-drinkers, using a multi-variable logistic regression analysis.
Results: Non-flushers had a significant relationship between hypertriglyceridemia and alcohol consumption in two groups (4-8 drinks: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.937, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.029-3.644; ≥16 drinks: aOR 2.118, 95% CI 1.272-3.527) in contrast to flushers, who showed no significant relationship between hypertriglyceridemia and alcohol consumption. Non-flushers had a significant relationship to low serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in four groups (<4 drinks: aOR 0.428, 95% CI 0.277-0.662; 4-8 drinks: aOR 0.409, 95% CI 0.216-0.774; 8-16 drinks: aOR 0.285, 95% CI 0.152-0.536; ≥16 drinks: aOR 0.343, 95% CI 0.207-0.568), and flushers had a significant relationship in two groups (8-16 drinks: aOR 0.234, 95% CI 0.102-0.536; ≥16 drinks: aOR 0.342, 95% CI 0.166-0.705).
Conclusions: Our results suggest that drinking alcohol increases the risk of hypertriglyceridemia in non-flushers and the risk of low HDL cholesterol flushers.
Korean J Health Promot 2016;16(3):153-161

Keywords: Alcohol drinking, Flushing, Dyslipidemias, High density lipoprotein cholesterol, Triglycerides