Aladin AI, Chevli PA, Ahmad MI, et al. - Moderate and heavy alcohol intake was found to be associated with a higher prevalence of systemic hypertension (SH) in this analysis from a population-based survey.

• This study comprised 17,059 participants from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

• The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association high blood pressure guidelines were used.

• Relative to never drinkers, moderate drinkers (7 to 13 drinks/week) were found to have increased odds of prevalent stage 1 and stage 2 SH (odds ratio 1.51 and 1.55).

• Similarly, heavy drinkers (≥14 drinks/week) had significantly higher odds of prevalent stage 1 and stage 2 SH (odds ratio 1.65 and 2.46).

• There was no link between alcohol intake and elevated blood pressure category.