NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Binge drinking can cause a surge in blood pressure that does not occur with steady alcohol consumption, researchers in France and Ireland report.

The findings have important implications for the risk of cardiovascular disease in industrialized nations, where some studies have shown an increased rate of myocardial infarction (MI) and arrhythmia on Mondays compared with other days of the week.

"Our results indicate that the binge-drinking pattern…leads to physiologically disadvantageous consequences regarding blood pressure levels, whereas no such fluctuations in blood pressure levels are found for a regular consumption," according to Dr. Pedro Marques-Vidal from INSERM U558 laboratories in Toulouse, France and colleagues.

These fluctuations "could also partly explain the higher [MI] incidence on Mondays in countries characterized by a high alcohol intake on weekends," the researchers report in the December issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The investigators measured daily blood pressure and analyzed drinking patterns for more than 6500 men in France and Northern Ireland who consumed alcohol at least once a week. Alcohol consumption in France was fairly steady throughout the week with a slight increase over the weekend. In Ireland, the men in the study consumed two thirds of their weekly alcohol on Fridays and Saturdays, a pattern indicating binge drinking.

In France, blood pressure remained constant throughout the week while Irish men had blood pressures that peaked on Mondays and declined through Thursday. In Ireland, both systolic and diastolic pressures were significantly tied to average alcohol intake in the prior 3 to 4 days. There was no association between blood pressure and alcohol consumption in France.

Men in both countries who abstained from alcohol had no daily fluctuations in their blood pressure, the report indicates.

Exactly how alcohol influences blood pressure is not clear, but the researchers point out that it can affect plasma and cellular sodium levels. In France, alcohol tends to be consumed with meals, which slows its absorption into the blood, the authors note. Consuming alcohol without eating can therefore influence its metabolic effects.

Finally, the different effects on blood pressure might be due to the type of drink consumed, the tendency to smoke cigarettes while binge drinking, or the consumption of salty foods such as peanuts and potato chips during an alcohol binge, Dr. Marques-Vidal and colleagues suggest.

Hypertension 2001;38:1361-1366.
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