More than 650,000 adults in mainland France, mainly men, suffer from high blood pressure due to alcohol consumption exceeding an average of 10 drinks per week, according to a study published this Tuesday, April 30, by Public Health France.
In France, approximately one in three adults is hypertensive, that is, about 17 million people. Several risk factors have been identified, such as age, family history, low physical activity, a diet high in salt and low in fruits and vegetables, obesity but also alcohol consumption.
To better measure the weight of alcohol, Public Health France attempted to estimate the number of cases of hypertension attributable to consumption above the recommended limits among people aged 18 to 74.
A “significant difference” between men and women
Pour limiter l’impact sur la santé de l’alcool, des repères de consommation à moindre risque (maximum 10 verres per week, maximum deux verres per jour, et des jours dans la semaine sans consommation) ont été définis depuis 2017 et communiqués régulièrement from.
Some 655,000 cases of high blood pressure before the age of 75 “are related to alcohol consumption greater than an average of ten drinks per week in mainland France”, among them 624,000 men and 31,000 women, estimates the study published in a weekly epidemiological bulletin .
La “important difference” between men and women results mainly, according to the chercheurs, of alcohol consumptions plus important des men par rapport aux femmes, but also of episodes of binge drinking and d’alcoolisation massive plus frequents chez les uns que chez the others.
40,000 deaths attributable to alcohol
Although they recognize certain methodological limitations to their study, its authors see it as “a minimum estimate of the cases of arterial hypertension attributable to alcohol consumption that turns out to be very high, and based on two solid and representative surveys of the French population, the survey with Esteban’s health examination and the French Public Health Barometer”.
Given these results, the health organization highlights the importance of preventing alcohol consumption but also of controlling hypertension.
Alcohol remains one of the main risk factors for illness and death in France, with more than 40,000 attributable deaths. In addition to cardiovascular and cirrhosis risks, the consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the risk of suffering from certain cancers.
“Although the French have reduced their alcohol consumption for thirty years, consumption levels remain very high (…) both among the general population and among certain subpopulations, such as pregnant women,” recalls the general director of French Public Health, Caroline Semaille. , in an editorial that accompanies this epidemiological bulletin.
Source: BFM TV
