Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Aug 24; doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002777. Epub 2021 Aug 24.
Fit and Tipsy? The Interrelationship between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Alcohol Consumption and Dependence.
Medicine and science in sports and exercise
Kerem Shuval, David Leonard, Karen Chartier, Carolyn E Barlow, Bob M Fennis, David L Katz, Katelyn Abel, Stephen W Farrell, Andjelka Pavlovic, Laura F DeFina
Affiliations
Affiliations
- The Cooper Institute, Dallas, TX School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA Faculty of Economics and Business, Department of Marketing, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands True Health Initiative, Tulsa, OK.
PMID: 34431829
DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002777
Abstract
PURPOSE: To examine whether higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are related to increased alcohol consumption and dependence among a large sample of adults attending a preventive medicine clinic.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 38,653 apparently healthy patients who visited the Cooper Clinic (Dallas, TX) for preventive medical exams (1988-2019) and enrolled in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. The primary independent variable was cardiorespiratory fitness, based on a maximal treadmill test, and the dependent variables were alcohol consumption and dependence (self-reported). The relations between fitness category (low, moderate, high) and alcohol consumption (low, moderate, heavy) and suggested alcohol dependence (CAGE score ≥ 2) among women and men, were estimated via multivariable regression while adjusting for covariates (e.g., age, birth year cohort, marital status, and BMI).
RESULTS: Women within the moderate and high fitness categories had 1.58 (95%CI 1.32-1.91) and 2.14 (95%CI 1.77-2.58) greater odds of moderate/heavy alcohol consumption, respectively, in comparison to their low fitness counterparts. Similarly, moderate and high fit men had 1.42 (95%CI 1.30-1.55) and 1.63 (95%CI 1.49-1.80) times greater odds of moderate-to-heavy alcohol consumption, respectively, in comparison to the low fitness group. In addition, among men who were heavy drinkers (but not women), higher fitness levels were related to lower rates of suggested alcohol dependence. Specifically, these men had 45.7%, 41.7%, and 34.9% proportions of clinically relevant alcohol problems across low, moderate, and high fitness categories (adjusted p for trend <0.001).
CONCLUSION: Higher fitness levels are significantly related to greater alcohol consumption among a large cohort of adult patients. Interventions focusing on increasing fitness (via physical activity promotion) might consider concurrently aiming to reduce alcohol consumption.
Copyright © 2021 American College of Sports Medicine.
Conflict of interest statement
Conflict of Interest: The authors have no disclosures of potential conflicts of interest to report. The results of the present study do not constitute endorsement by ACSM. The results of the study are
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