Five-year increase in alcohol intake heightens incident AF risk
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Compared with stable alcohol intake, a 5-year increase in alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk for incident atrial fibrillation, according to a study published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
“Atrial fibrillation incidence and prevalence are increasing, and atrial fibrillation is associated with a considerable risk of stroke, heart failure and myocardial infarction. Symptomatic treatment and stroke prevention measures are costly and not without risk for the patients,” Tanja Charlotte Frederiksen, MD, a PhD candidate in the department of cardiology at Aarhus University in Denmark, told Healio. “Therefore, we find, that it is important to address primary preventive measures, including lifestyle factors.”
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To observe the association between a five-year increase in alcohol intake and incident AF risk, Frederiksen and colleagues analyzed 43,758 individuals (median age, 61 years; 54% women) from the Danish cohort study Diet, Cancer, and Health that took place from 1993 to 1997.
Participants completed lifestyle risk factor questionnaires at recruitment and 5 years later.
Frederiksen and colleagues found that 5,312 individuals were diagnosed with incident AF over the 15.7-year median follow-up period.
Participants who increased their alcohol intake to at least 21 drinks per week at second examination from 6.9 drinks per week or less (HR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09-1.72) or from 14 to 20.9 drinks per week (HR = 1.27; 95% CI, 1.01-1.59) at baseline examination had increased risk for incident AF compared with participants with a stable alcohol intake.
However, for participants who decreased their alcohol intake between baseline and second examinations, there was no statistically significant difference in their risk for incident AF compared with those with stable intake, according to researchers.
“The message people can take away from this study is that a high alcohol intake and increases in alcohol intake are associated with higher risks of atrial fibrillation,” Frederiksen told Healio. “This supports the various recommendations of limiting alcohol intake for better health outcomes.”
However, Frederiksen and colleagues acknowledged the need for further research on the impact of decreasing alcohol intake on the potential risk for incident AF.
“We did not find any association between decreases in alcohol intake and risk of atrial fibrillation. However, this might be due to lack of statistical power in this study,” Frederiksen told Healio. “Larger studies are warranted to show a potential association between decreases in alcohol intake and risk of atrial fibrillation.”
For more information:
Tanja Charlotte Frederiksen, MD, can be reached at tanja_charlotte@clin.au.dk.
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