Frequent Alcohol Consumption Increases Risk Of Atrial Fibrillation More Than Binge Drinking
October 22, 2019
Atrial fibrillation is dangerous condition of the heart in which it pumps blood irregularly. A-fib affects the upper chambers of the heart and makes blood get collected in the lower chambers. This ups the risk of clotting and hence, stroke. People who have this irregular pumping of the heart have 4 to 5 times higher odds of getting a stroke.
A-fib, which is the most common type of arrhythmia, occurs when the heart’s electrical system is damaged. There can be several reasons behind this damage. Medications, surgery, and heart disease can cause atrial fibrillation. Risk factors for the condition also include diabetes, obesity, genetics, etc.
A study published in the American Journal of Cardiology said alcohol and high blood pressure were major risk factors. According to this research work, regular consumption of alcohol can cause atrial fibrillation. Moreover, alcohol also supports the second risk factor which is hypertension.
This wasn’t the first study of its kind. Unfortunately, this condition has increased by 4x in the last decade. Owing to this, scientists are digging deeper into the causes. Now a new study blames frequent alcohol consumption for increasing the risk of A-fib. Researchers from the Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul have conducted this study.
What Did The Study Reveal?
Atrial fibrillation can be fatal if left unchecked. It can lead to a poor quality of life by causing many complications. For the purpose of this study, the team of researchers compared the effect of binge drinking and frequent drinking on increasing risk of A-fib.
Scientists looked at the data of 9,776,956 people. These individuals had their records in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. None of them had atrial fibrillation at the start of the study in 2009 when they participated in a survey about alcohol consumption. Researchers tracked these individuals till 2017.
The goal was to note if they had developed A-fib during this time. Their assessment found that weekly consumption of alcohol was a strong risk factor. Scientists noticed that drinking alcohol daily was highly risky, more so than drinking twice a week. Drinking once a week, surprisingly, was the least risky. Binge drinking alcohol in one session shared no link with A-fib.
Furthermore, the study found that consuming mild amounts of alcohol could have a protective effect compared to no drinking, mediocre and high drinking. However, this benefit could be due to other factors and requires the backing of more research. Prof. Jong-II Choi, who was part of the study, said drinking alcohol can cause sleep problems which is also a risk factor for the condition.
He said, “To prevent new-onset atrial fibrillation, both the frequency and weekly amount of alcohol consumption should be reduced.” Alcohol does a lot of damage to health which is why it is better to eliminate it from your lifestyle. The EP Europace study paper has published the findings of this research work.