Clinical features of hypertension in frequent and heavy alcohol drinkers.

An association between regular alcohol use and hypertension is firmly established. The clinical features of hypertensive patients who used alcohol frequently or heavily were compared with those of age and sex matched hypertensive patients who used alcohol only occasionally or never. Regular alcohol use was associated with milder hypertension, lower blood urea concentrations and fewer electrocardiographic abnormalities. However, there was no evidence that major vascular complications, including myocardial infarction, were less common in regular drinkers, perhaps because of their associated heavy cigarette smoking. Regular alcohol users were as likely to give a positive family history of hypertension, but were less likely to have an abnormal intravenous pyelogram. Heavy drinkers were twice as likely to default within one year.