Patients with heart rhythm disorder warned against heavy alcohol
consumption

Date:
December 2, 2020
Source:
European Society of Cardiology
Summary:
Fourteen drinks a week is linked with a higher risk of health
problems including stroke and embolism in patients with atrial
fibrillation, according to research.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Fourteen drinks a week is linked with a higher risk of health problems including stroke and embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation,
according to research published in EP Europace, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).


==========================================================================
"Our study suggests that atrial fibrillation patients should avoid
heavy alcohol consumption to prevent stroke and other complications,"
said author Dr.

Boyoung Joung of Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic
of Korea.

The study included 9,411 patients with atrial fibrillation from
18 tertiary hospitals covering all geographical regions of South
Korea. Patients were categorised into four groups according to their
weekly alcohol consumption (one drink contains 14 grams of alcohol): abstainer/rare (0 grams/less than one drink), light (less than 100
grams/7 drinks), moderate (100-200 grams/7-14 drinks), and heavy (200
grams/14 drinks or more).

A total of 7,455 (79.2%) patients were classified as abstainer/rare,
795 (8.4%) as light, 345 (3.7%) as moderate, and 816 (8.7%) as heavy
alcohol consumption.

Patients were followed-up for a median of 17.4 months for adverse
events, which included stroke, transient ischaemic attack, systemic
embolism (a blood clot in a limb or organ), and hospitalisation for
rate or rhythm control of atrial fibrillation or for heart failure
management. The researchers recorded how many patients experienced any
of these events and calculated the incident rate (number of events per
100 person-years). Incident rates were 6.73, 5.77, 6.44, and 9.65 in
the abstainer/rare, light, moderate, and heavy drinkers, respectively.

The researchers compared the risk of adverse events in the light,
moderate, and heavy drinkers to the abstainer/rare group. Heavy drinking
was associated with a 32% increased risk compared with the abstainers
and rare drinkers. No significant association was observed for light or moderate alcohol consumption.

Dr. Joung said: "Our study did not find any significant association
between light or moderate drinking and complications. A significant
deleterious relationship with heavy drinking was identified, suggesting
that heavy alcohol consumption should be avoided." Subgroup analyses
showed that the impact of heavy drinking was more pronounced in patients
with low stroke risk2 compared to those at moderate or high stroke
risk. Similarly, heavy drinking was associated with a greater likelihood
of unfavourable outcomes in patients without high blood pressure compared
to those with high blood pressure. Higher risks were also observed in
patients not using beta-blockers or antiplatelet medications compared
to those taking the drugs.

Dr. Joung said: "The findings indicate that heavy drinking is particularly detrimental for atrial fibrillation patients who are considered less
vulnerable to complications. Clinicians should ask patients about their
alcohol consumption and take it into account when calculating their stroke risk." He concluded: "While heavy drinking should be strongly discouraged among atrial fibrillation patients, moderate drinking seems to be safe."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by European_Society_of_Cardiology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Chewan Lim, Tae-Hoon Kim, Hee Tae Yu, So-Ryoung Lee, Myung-Jin
Cha, Jung-
Myung Lee, Junbeom Park, Jin-Kyu Park, Ki-Woon Kang, Jaemin Shim,
Jae-Sun Uhm, Jun Kim, Hyung Wook Park, Eue-Keun Choi, Jin-Bae Kim,
Young Soo Lee, Boyoung Joung. Effect of alcohol consumption on the
risk of adverse events in atrial fibrillation: from the COmparison
study of Drugs for symptom control and complication prEvention
of Atrial Fibrillation (CODE- AF) registry. EP Europace, 2020;
DOI: 10.1093/europace/euaa340 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201202114504.htm

--- up 14 weeks, 2 days, 7 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)