The relationship between drinking frequency and amount of alcohol consumption (i.e., drinking habits) and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. We aimed to clarify either a linear or J-shaped dose-response relationship between drinking habits and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as a biomarker for identifying individuals at high risk of CKD. In a large-scale cross-sectional study, 403 men and 121 women with an eGFR of 30-60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) were defined as cases, and 1209 men and 363 women with ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) were randomly extracted as controls (one case subject was matched with three control subjects, matched according to age and season of data collection). We calculated multivariate-adjusted CKD risk and the corresponding mean eGFR according to drinking habits. In men, negative and positive linear relationships with drinking habits were found for CKD risk and mean eGFR (p < 0.001 for all linear terms), respectively, but there were no corresponding J-shaped relationships (not significant for all quadratic terms). In regard to the mean eGFR, however, positive linear relationships were only shown in men in the highest eGFR quartile (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 for drinking frequency and amount of alcohol consumption, respectively). In women, no association was found. Regarding each drinking habit, we found a positive linear dose-response relationship to eGFR in middle-aged men with an eGFR ≥30 mL/min/1.73 m(2).
Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Chronic kidney disease; Dose-response relationship; Epidemiology; Estimated glomerular filtration rate; Ethanol consumption.
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