Association between Alcohol Intake and Hemoglobin A1c in the Korean Adults: The 2011-2013 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Although alcohol consumption is commonly encountered in clinical practice, few studies have investigated the clinical significance of alcohol intake on the use of the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level. This study was performed to investigate the association between alcohol intake and HbA1c level in the general population. Among the 24,594 participants who participated in the 2011-2013 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), 12,923 participants were analyzed in this study. We excluded diabetic patients currently taking antidiabetes medication. We compared the HbA1c level and proportions of patients with an HbA1c level of ≥5.7%, ≥6.1%, and ≥6.5% according to the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentration range and the amount of alcohol intake. The average amounts of daily alcohol intake were categorized into three groups: 0 g/day,