Inverse association between habitual alcohol drinking and d-dimer in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Published in: Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) Vol. 83; pp. 99 - 103
• Main Authors: Marumo, Mikio, Ekawa, Kazumi, Ebara, Shigeyuki, Wakabayashi, Ichiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.03.2020; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - blood; Alcohol use; Alcoholic beverages; Blood coagulation; Blood Coagulation - drug effects; Body Mass Index; Cardiovascular disease; Cholesterol; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; d-dimer; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - blood; Drinking behavior; Drug therapy; Female; Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products - analysis; Fibrinogen - analysis; Glycated Hemoglobin A - analysis; HDL cholesterol; Health risk assessment; Hemoglobin; High density lipoprotein; Humans; Low density lipoprotein; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate analysis; Plasma; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Smoking; Smoking - blood; Stroke; Variables; Variance analysis; Japan; Blood coagulation; Alcohol; Cardiovascular disease; Diabetes mellitus; d-dimer; HDL cholesterol
• ISSN: 0741-8329; 1873-6823
• DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2019.07.003

Alcohol is known to inhibit blood coagulation. Patients with diabetes mellitus are prone to show hypercoagulability. However, it remains to be clarified whether and how habitual alcohol drinking affects coagulability in patients with diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between alcohol intake and d-dimer, a sensitive marker of blood coagulation, in patients with diabetes. We investigated the relationship between alcohol intake and d-dimer in plasma of 269 patients with type 2 diabetes by using analysis of covariance and logistic regression analysis after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c, and histories of smoking and anti-coagulation therapy. Log-transformed d-dimer and HDL cholesterol were significantly lower and higher, respectively, in regular drinkers than in nondrinkers, while there were no significant differences in log-transformed d-dimer and HDL cholesterol in occasional drinkers and nondrinkers. Odds ratios of regular drinkers vs. nondrinkers for high d-dimer (0.46 [0.21–0.98]) and low HDL cholesterol (0.20 [0.08–0.50]) were significantly lower than the reference level, while the odds ratios of occasional drinkers for high d-dimer (1.24 [0.41–3.73]) and low HDL cholesterol (0.43 [0.15–1.25]) were not significantly different from the reference level. HDL cholesterol showed a significant inverse correlation with log-transformed d-dimer both in overall subjects and in nondrinkers. Regular drinking, but not occasional drinking, was associated with lower d-dimer levels, suggesting that habitual alcohol drinking suppresses hypercoagulability in patients with diabetes. There is an alcohol intake-independent inverse association between HDL cholesterol and d-dimer. •It remains unknown whether alcohol drinking affects coagulability in patients with diabetes.•The relationship between alcohol intake and d-dimer was investigated in patients with diabetes.•Regular drinking, but not occasional drinking, was associated with lower d-dimer and higher HDL cholesterol levels.•D-dimer was inversely associated with HDL cholesterol independently of alcohol.•Habitual alcohol drinking may suppress hypercoagulability in patients with diabetes.