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Heavy Drinking Linked to Atrial Fibrillation, Stroke
Follows earlier research of worse problem for senior
citizens
Sept. 13, 2005 - A large-scale study has found that
heavy alcohol consumption – 35 or more drinks per week -- can
significantly increase men’s risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a
dangerous type of arrhythmia and one of the leading risk factors for
stroke. A study released earlier this year by the same researchers said
older men who drink only three or four drinks per day are much more likely to
have a stroke than nondrinkers. (See sidebar)
Reported in the September 13, 2005 issue of
Circulation, the findings – which showed that risk of this rapid,
irregular heartbeat was as much as 45 percent higher among heavy
drinkers than abstainers—also support the existence of what has come to
be known as “holiday heart syndrome.”
The research team was led by researchers at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
“Holiday heart syndrome refers to heart rhythm
disturbances which develop while a person is on vacation or away from
work, and appears to be linked to heavier-than-normal alcohol
consumption,” explains the study’s lead author Kenneth J. Mukamal, MD,
MPH, an internist in BIDMC’s Division of General Medicine and Primary
Care.
“Since our research found that the risk of
developing atrial fibrillation begins to increase at about four drinks
per day, and clearly goes up at five drinks per day, this would seem to
confirm what has long been suspected regarding periods of significant
alcohol consumption, like during vacations.”
Atrial fibrillation develops when muscles in the
heart’s upper chambers contract too quickly, resulting in an
ineffective, irregular heartbeat. As a result, blood is not adequately
pumped from the heart, and may pool and form clots. Blood clots that
travel to the brain result in a stroke, and, indeed, statistics show
that having atrial fibrillation results in a nearly five-fold increase
in a person’s stroke risk.
Using information obtained from the Copenhagen City
Heart Study in Denmark, the researchers studied 16,415 individuals
(7,588 men and 8,827 women) with an average age of 50. The study
included the administering of routine electrocardiograms (ECGs) on three
separate occasions between 1976 and 1994 to measure the hearts’
electrical activity for each participant.
After adjusting for numerous factors including
smoking, education, income, physical activity, body mass index, and
diabetes, the researchers analyzed data concerning the participants’
consumption of alcohol (beer, wine or spirits).
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About Stroke |
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Every 45 seconds, someone in
America has a stroke. About 700,000 Americans will have a
stroke this year. Stroke is our nation's No. 3 killer and a
leading cause of severe, long-term disability.
What is Stroke?
Stroke is a type of
cardiovascular disease. It affects the arteries leading to and
within the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that
carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a
clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get
the blood (and oxygen) it needs, so it starts to die.
Clots that block an artery cause
ischemic (is-KEM-ik) strokes. This is the most common type
of stroke, accounting for approximately 88 percent of all
strokes.
Ruptured blood vessels cause
hemorrhagic (hem-o-RAJ-ik) or bleeding strokes.
When part of the brain dies from
lack of blood flow, the part of the body it controls is
affected. Strokes can cause paralysis, affect language and
vision, and cause other problems.
Treatments are available to minimize the potentially
devastating
effects of stroke, but to receive them, one must recognize
the
warning signs and act quickly!
Information from
American Stroke Asscoation. |
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The researchers documented 1,071 cases of atrial
fibrillation during the study period.
“Our results showed that the risk of developing
irregular heart beat was similar among both non-drinkers and individuals
who drank fewer than 14 drinks per week,” explains Mukamal, who is also
an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“But among men who typically drank 35 or more
alcoholic beverages per week, the risk of atrial fibrillation increased
significantly, by 45 percent. [Because so few women in the study
qualified as “heavy drinkers,” the researchers did not see similar
results among the female participants.]
“This was certainly the largest study of its type
to examine this topic,” he adds. “And while it is reassuring that
moderate drinkers did not seem to have an increased risk of this
hazardous heart rhythm, our findings provide yet more evidence of the
risks of heavy drinking to the heart.”
Study co-authors include the following researchers
from the Center for Alcohol Research, National Institute of Public
Health in Copenhagen, Denmark: Janne S. Tolstrup, MD, Jens Friberg, MD;
Gorm Jensen, MD, Dr.M.Sci; and Morten Gornbaek, MD, PhD, Dr.M.Sci.
This study was funded by the National Board of Health, the Ministry for
the Interior and Health, the Health Insurance Foundation, and the Danish
Heart Foundation, all of Denmark.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient
care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and
ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent
hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin
Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer
Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more
information, visit
http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu.
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