Wine Information Council
2 april 2020
Print

Alcohol Consumption and Risk for Venous Thromboembolism: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies

The association between alcohol consumption and venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk has been investigated by various observational studies with inconsistent results. We examined this association by performing a meta-analysis of prospective studies.

A comprehensive literature search was carried out in the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science from its inception to February 2020. Pooled effect estimates were calculated using a random effect model. Ten prospective studies (14 cohorts) were included in this meta-analysis with a total of 441,128 individuals and 10,221 VTE cases. Overall, the highest consumption of alcohol was not associated with the VTE risk compared with the lowest group [relative risk (RR), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.89-1.04), P = 0.293]. No obvious heterogeneity of RRs was observed across these studies (P = 0.249 for heterogeneity, I (2) = 18.8%). Egger's and Begg's tests showed no evidence of publication bias (Egger, P = 0.443; Begg, P = 0.730).

In the subgroup analysis by sex, a borderline significant association between alcohol consumption and VTE risk was observed in women [RR, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.82-1.00)]. In the dose-response analysis, we observed a linear decrease in VTE risk with increasing alcohol intake (P = 0.634 for nonlinearity). However, the reduced risk was not statistically significant.

In conclusion, the results from this meta-analysis suggest that alcohol intake is not related with the risk of VTE. Further large well-designed cohort studies are warranted to investigate a potential protective role of alcohol against VTE in women.

Additional Info

  • Authors

    Chen M.; Ji M.; Chen T.; Hong X.; Jia Y.

  • Issue

    Front Nutr . 2020 Apr 2;7:32

  • Published Date

    2 april 2020

Related items