Viet Le, PA-C: Alcohol Consumption and MACE Risk Based on Exposure to Statins

New data presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Sessions is shedding light on the relationship between alcohol consumption and event risk based on whether or not a patient has been exposed to statin therapy.

An analysis of electronic medical record information from patients at Intermountain Healthcare assessing the effects of prescription history of statin use or non-use and a self-report of alcohol use or non-use, results of the analysis suggest alcohol consumption could provide benefit for reducing risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients without exposure to statins, but demonstrated no benefit when added to statins for primary prevention and no benefit with or without statin use for secondary prevention.

Consumption of alcohol and its benefit or harm on cardiovascular health has long been a subject of debate, but no randomized trials have been able to draw an evidence-based conclusion on the topic. With this in mind, a team from Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah School of Medicine designed the current study as an analysis of laboratory electronic medical record data from Intermountain Healthcare patients to assess associations of alcohol consumption with long-term MACE risk based on whether or not a patient had exposure to statin therapy and if it were in a primary or secondary prevention setting.

From the electronic medical record database, investigators identified 416 not using statins and 164 on statins with reported alcohol consumption for inclusion. In contrast, 808 patients not on statins and 313 patients on statins with no reported alcohol consumption were identified for inclusion.

During the follow-up period, which lasted a mean of 4.0 (SD, 3.2) years, MACE rates were 6.5% and 14.2% for primary prevention alcohol users and non-users (HR, 0.50 [95% CI, 0.33-0.78]; P=.002), respectively, for those not on statins in primary prevention analyses. Among statin users, MACE rates were 19.5% and 22.7%, among alcohol users and nonusers (HR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.54-1.32]; P=.45), respectively, in the primary prevention analyses. For secondary prevention, MACE rates for alcohol users and non-alcohol users were 18.2% and 19.9%, respectively, for those without exposure to statin therapy (P=.70) and 19.9% and 22.7%, respectively, for those on statins (P=.31).

For more on this study, we reached out to study investigator Viet Le, PA-C, associate professor of research at Intermountain Healthcare and president of the Association of Physician Associates in Cardiology (APAC), for more insight into the design and results of the investigation.

This study, “Is Alcohol Consumption Associated with a Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Patients Treated with Statins? An Observational Real-World Experience,” was presented at ACC.22.