충남대학교병원(원장 김봉옥) 가정의학과 정진규 교수(제1저자,가정의학과장), 가정의학과 김종성 교수 (책임저자, 충남의대 가정의학교실 주임교수)팀이 연구한 “Hypertension Associated with Alcohol Consumption Based on the Facial Flushing Reaction to Drinking”이라는 제목의 연구결과가 최근 미국 언론에 보도되었다.

가정의학과 정진규 교수

연구팀은 충남대병원을 방문한 1,763명의 남성(비음주자 288명, 음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지는 사람 527명, 음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지지 않는 사람 948명)을 대상으로, 어느 정도의 음주가 고혈압의 위험이 있는지를 분석하였다.

가정의학과 김종성 교수

연구팀은 “음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지는 사람은 1주일에 소주 1병 이상을 마실 때 고혈압의 위험이 증가하는 반면, 음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지지 않는 사람은 일주일에 소주 2병 이상을 마실 때 고혈압의 위험이 증가한다.”고 밝혔다.

또한, 과음이 체내의 아세트알데하이드를 증가시키고 교감신경계를 활성화시켜 고혈압을 유발하는 것으로 알려져 있으나, 그 동안 음주에 대한 개인 체질을 반영한 연구는 없었으며, “음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지는 사람은 알코올의 대사물질인 아세트알데하이드를 유전적으로 잘 분해하지 못하기 때문에 술의 독성에 더 취약하다.”고 연구팀은 지적하였다.

한편, 정진규·김종성 교수팀의 이번 연구는 알코올분야의 권위지인 Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research라는 SCI 저널의 2013년 11월 온라인 판에 게재되었으며, 2014년 4월에 정식 출판된다.

연구결과가 일반인들에게 주는 교육적 메시지의 중요성과 연구의 창의성을 평가 받아, 저널 편집부에서 Public Interest Highlights 논문으로 선정되었다는 서한을 보내왔다.

뿐만아니라 논문발표의 엠바고 시점인 2013년 11월 19일, 과학저널리스트들과 대중들을 위한 온라인 과학뉴스 `EurekAlert!` (http://www.eurekalert.org)웹사이트에 미국 과학기(science writer)에 의해 연구결과가 “feature news”로 소개되면서 미국 기자들의 관심을 집중시켰다.

정진규·김종성 교수는 그 동안 음주로 인한 대사증후군의 위험, 당뇨병의 위험 등에 대한 연구결과들을 발표한 바 있으며, 기존의 연구들과 이번 연구결과를 종합적으로 고려할 때 “한국 남성의 적절한 음주량을 일주일에 `소주 2병 이하´(음주 후 얼굴이 붉어지는 사람은 일주일에 `소주 1병 이하´)로 제한해야 한다.”고 밝혔다.

이는 미국국립보건원에서 미국 남성에게 권고하는 적절음주의 기준인 일주일에 `표준 잔 14잔 이하´(소주 3.5병에 해당)보다 현저히 낮은 수준이다. 또한 “우리나라 남자들이 미국 사람들보다 고혈압 발생률 및 고혈압으로 인한 뇌졸중이 많은 것도 우리나라 음주량과 연관이 되지 않을까 생각한다.”고 덧붙였다.

온라인 과학뉴스에 보도된 기사 전문

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 19 November 2013 @ 16:00:00 ET

Note to Eurekalert!: Please replace default contact info with the following:

Contact: Jong-Sung Kim, M.D., Ph.D.

jskim@cnuh.co.kr

82.42.280.8172 (Korea)

Chungnam National University Hospital

Add´l contact: Kyung Hwan Cho, M.D., Ph.D.

82.10.4619.5105 (Korea)

chokh@korea.ac.kr

Korea University Hospital

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (please link to http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1530-0277/earlyview)

Individuals who flush after drinking are at higher risk of alcohol-related hypertension

· Excessive drinking is a known risk factor for hypertension.

· Drinking that results in facial flushing indicates high sensitivity or even intolerance to alcohol.

· A new study has found that drinking-related hypertension has a higher risk in flushers than in non-flushers, and the risk of hypertension was significantly increased when flushers consumed more than four drinks per week.

Excessive drinking is a known risk factor for hypertension. Drinking that results in facial flushing indicates high sensitivity or even intolerance to alcohol.

A study of the relationship between drinking and these two conditions has found that drinking-related hypertension has a lower threshold value and higher risk in flushers than in non-flushers.

Results will be published in the April 2014 online-only issue of Alcoholism:Clinical&ExperimentalResearchandarecurrentlyavailableatEarlyView.

“Facial flushing after drinking is always considered as a symptom of high alcohol sensitivity or even intolerance to alcohol, unless a patient is taking special medicine,” said Jong Sung Kim, head of the department of family medicine at Chungnam National University School of Medicine.

“The facial flushing response to drinking usually occurs in a person who cannot genetically break down acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of alcohol.”

“Facial flushing after alcohol drinking differs across gender, age, and ethnic groups,” added Kyung Hwan Cho, president of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine. “In general, it is more common in women, the elderly, and East Asians versus Westerners.”

Cho noted that it is well known that excessive alcohol consumption is associated with elevated blood pressure and the likely development of hypertension.

 “This association persists regardless of beverage type and shows a dose-response relationship, which means excess drinking for weeks or months can increase blood pressure,” he said. “However, the relationship may vary by gender, race/ethnicity, or presence of other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Conversely, many studies have reported that meaningful blood pressure reductions occur after reductions in alcohol drinking.”

“To my knowledge,” noted Kim, “there has been no detailed research that has analyzed the relationship between drinking and hypertension while considering individual responses to alcohol.”

Kim and his colleagues collected data from the medical records of 1,763 men (288 non-drinkers, 527 flushing drinkers, 948 non-flushing drinkers) who had received a health check-up.

The risk of hypertension related to the weekly drinking amount by non-flushers and flushers was analyzed and compared with the risk of hypertension among non-drinkers.

“Our results indicate that hypertension associated with drinking has a lower threshold value and higher risk in flushers than in non-flushers,” said Kim. “After adjusting for age, body mass index, exercise status, and smoking status, the risk of hypertension was significantly increased when flushers consumed more than four drinks per week. In contrast, in non-flushers, the risk increased with consuming more than eight drinks per week”.

Kim added that these results indicate that facial flushing after drinking may potentially serve as a marker of risk for hypertension associated with drinking. “Our research findings suggest that clinicians and researchers should, respectively, consider evaluating their patients´ flushing response to alcohol as well as drinking amount in a daily routine care, and researching hazard by drinking.”

“Thus, if you or your patient have facial flushing, the risk of hypertension can increase even if you drink less than those who do not have facial flushing,” said Cho. “[Under these circumstances, I would] recommend limiting your or their drinking amount even more to prevent the development of hypertension.”

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, “Hypertension Associated with Alcohol Consumption Based on the Facial Flushing Reaction to Drinking,” were: Jong-Sung Kim, Jin-Gyu Jung, Young-Seok Kim, and Seok-Joon Yoon from the Department of Family Medicine, Research Institute for Medical Sciences in the School of Medicine at

Chungnam National University; and Mi-Kyeong Oh of the Department of Family Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Ulsan, Gangneung Asan Hospital, both in Korea. This release is supported by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network at http://www.ATTCnetwork.org.

Journalists: A full copy of the manuscript may be obtained by contacting Mary Newcomb with the ACER Editorial Office at or, or Lisa Daitch at or .