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Despite the equipoise regarding alcohol’s cardiovascular effects and absence of relevant rigorous controlled trials, the lay press frequently portrays alcohol as “heart healthy.” The public perception of alcohol’s heart effects, the sources of those perceptions, and how they may affect behavior are unknown. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data obtained between March, 2013 and September, 2014 from consecutive participants enrolled in the Health eHeart Study. Of 5,582 participants, 1,707 (30%) viewed alcohol as heart healthy, 2,157 (39%) viewed it as unhealthy, and 1,718 (31%) were unsure. Of those reporting alcohol as heart healthy, 80% cited lay press as a source of their knowledge. After adjustment, older age (odds ratio 1.11), higher education (odds ratio, 1.37), higher income (odds ratio 1.07), US residence (odds ratio 1.63) and coronary artery disease (CAD) (odds ratio 1.51) were associated with perception of alcohol as heart healthy (all p < 0.003). Ever smokers (odds ratio 0.76, p = 0.004) and those with heart failure (HF) (odds ratio 0.5, p = 0.01) were less likely to cite alcohol as heart healthy. Those perceiving alcohol as heart healthy consumed on average 47% more alcohol on a regular basis (95% confidence interval 27–66%, p < 0.001). In conclusion, among more than 5,000 consecutive Health eHeart participants, approximately one third believed alcohol to be heart healthy, and the majority cited the lay press as the origin of that perception. Those with a perception of alcohol as heart healthy drink substantially more alcohol.

We hypothesized that anthropometric measures of abdominal obesity would have a stronger positive association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) measured by non-contrast computed tomography versus general measures of obesity. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is comprised of participants aged 45–84 years free of known cardiovascular disease. We studied 4,088 participants with adequate liver and spleen CT-imaging and no prior use of oral steroids, class 3 anti-arrhythmics, moderately-heavy alcohol use, or cirrhosis. Prevalent NAFLD was defined as a liver:spleen Hounsfield attenuation ratio of

An abnormally high ankle-brachial index (ABI) is associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The relation of obesity to incident high ABI has not been characterized. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that increased obesity—quantified by body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio—is positively associated with a high ABI (≥1.3) and with mean ABI increases over a 4-year follow-up. Prevalence and incidence ratios for a high ABI were obtained for 6,540 and 5,045 participants, respectively, in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), using log-binomial regression models adjusted for demographic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory and novel risk factors. Linear regression was used to analyze mean ABI change. The prevalence and incidence of a high ABI were significantly higher for the highest compared to the lowest quartile of every baseline measure of obesity, with weight and body mass index demonstrating the highest incidence ratios (2.7 and 2.4, respectively). All prevalence and incidence ratios were positive and graded across obesity quartiles and were persistent in the subpopulation without diabetes. In those with normal baseline ABI values, 1 MESA standard deviation increase in every baseline measure of obesity was associated with significant increases in mean ABI values. In conclusion, independent, positive, and graded associations of increasing obesity with prevalent and incident high ABI and with mean increases in ABI values over time were found. Weight and body mass index seemed to be at least as strongly, if not more strongly, associated with a high ABI than were measures of abdominal obesity.