Alcohol-induced hypertension.

Blood pressures of 132 alcoholic patients whose mean daily alcohol consumption exceeded 80 g where measured while drinking, during detoxification from alcohol, and after a period of abstinence. At the time of presentation blood pressure exceeded 140/90 in 51.5% of patients. There was a significant correlation between blood pressure and mean daily alcohol intake over the previous three months and also between the level of blood pressure and the severity of alcohol-withdrawal symptoms. There was no relation between blood pressure and degree of histological liver damage, but a correlation was found with serum gamma-glutamyl-transferase activity and with mean corpuscular volume. In most patients blood pressure fell to normal after detoxification, and remained so for at least a year in those who continued to abstain. However, blood pressure rose in those who started drinking again. Excessive alcohol consumption is an important and insufficiently recognised cause of hypertension and, although the exact mechanism is unknown, treatment is simple and effective if patients can be persuaded to abstain.U