Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics of Participants in the Framingham Offspring Cohort (N = 2,879) According to Alcoholic Beverage Consumption Category, 1991–2001
| Characteristics of Participantsa | Alcoholic Beverage Consumption, drinks/weekb |
P Valuec | ||
| 0 | 1.1–3.4 | ≥9.0 | ||
| Alcohol, median g/day (range) | 0 | 3.6 (1.5–7.6) | 33.9 (14.5–160.8) | |
| No. of subjects | 754 | 574 | 582 | |
| Age, years | 55.3 (10.0) | 52.8 (9.5) | 53.9 (9.4) | 0.23 |
| Women, % | 62.6 | 59.1 | 33.3 | <0.001 |
| Current smoking, % | 20.3 | 15.5 | 24.1 | <0.001 |
| Parental history of diabetes, % | 17.6 | 20.7 | 12.2 | <0.001 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 27.5 (5.0) | 27.3 (5.1) | 26.9 (4.1) | 0.04 |
| Weight change, kg | 1.8 (7.5) | 2.4 (6.5) | 1.2 (5.8) | 0.02 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 125.1 (19.2) | 122.3 (17.5) | 127.0 (17.8) | <0.001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 73.7 (10.2) | 74.1 (9.9) | 75.4 (9.9) | <0.001 |
| Hypertension (>130/85 mm Hg or receiving therapy), % | 39.7 | 34.0 | 39.9 | 0.05 |
| Total cholesterol, mg/dL | 202.6 (36.8) | 202.6 (35.6) | 210.3 (36.2) | 0.003 |
| Triglyceride, mg/dL | 147.7 (91.9) | 128.5 (74.7) | 143.6 (107.5) | <0.001 |
| HDL cholesterol, mg/dL | 47.3 (13.8) | 51.6 (14.5) | 54.0 (15.7) | 0.002 |
| LDL cholesterol, mg/dL | 125.8 (32.8) | 125.3 (32.7) | 127.6 (34.1) | <0.001 |
| Fasting glucose, mg/dL | 94.2 (9.6) | 94.5 (9.4) | 96.7 (9.4) | <0.001 |
| Total energy, kcal/day | 1,844.7 (639.7) | 1,821.2 (618.5) | 2,081.0 (610.2) | 0.29 |
| Glycemic index | 55.3 (3.6) | 54.8 (3.2) | 53.6 (3.5) | <0.001 |
| Dietary fiber, g/1,000 kcal/day | 9.9 (3.4) | 10.3 (3.1) | 8.5 (2.5) | 0.02 |
| Saturated fatty acids, % energy | 10.8 (3.0) | 10.6 (2.9) | 9.8 (2.6) | <0.001 |
| trans-Fatty acids, % energy | 1.6 (0.9) | 1.5 (0.7) | 1.3 (0.6) | <0.001 |
| PUFA, % energy | 5.9 (1.7) | 5.8 (1.5) | 5.5 (1.7) | 0.42 |
Abbreviations: HDL, high density lipoprotein; LDL, low density lipoprotein; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids.
For continuous variables, means and standard deviations are presented.
Drinkers were divided into 4 groups by approximate quartile values of alcoholic beverage consumption among drinkers; the abstainers and the second and fourth quartile groups of alcoholic beverage consumption are presented for simplicity.
P values for the association of alcohol consumption with covariates were tested by analysis of variance for age for continuous variables and by chi-square tests for categorical variables.