High and moderate alcohol use were linked to an increased risk of stroke, according to a global study into the causes of stroke that was co-led by the University of Galway.
Additionally, the study showed no connection between moderate drinking and stroke.
The INTERSTROKE study looked at how nearly 26,000 people from all over the world used alcohol. Of these people, one-quarter were regular drinkers and two-thirds didn’t drink at all.
People from 27 countries, including Ireland and the UK, of many different races took part in the study.
The results were written up in Neurology, which is the most well-known and often-cited journal in the field of neuroscience.
The international INTERSTROKE study was led by Professor Salim Yusuf of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Canada and Professor Martin O’Donnell, who teaches neurovascular medicine at the University of Galway and is a consultant stroke physician at Galway University Hospitals.
According to Professor O’Donnell, stroke is a primary cause of death and disability worldwide. Around 2,000 of the 7,500 Irish people who suffer a stroke each year pass away. According to estimates, 30,000 people in Ireland are affected by stroke-related disability. In order to inform strategies for population-level prevention, the INTERSTROKE project was created to examine the major risk factors for stroke in various geographical areas of the world. In this article, we focused on the relationship between alcohol use and stroke risk.
“High alcohol consumption is known to raise the risk of stroke, but it is unclear if low to moderate alcohol consumption also influences stroke risk or whether the relationship between alcohol consumption and stroke varies by population and geography.”
These relationships were thoroughly investigated in this study across 27 different nations.
Ischemic stroke can result from clots or bleeding (intracerebral haemorrhage).
Professor Andrew Smyth, who works in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Galway and is also the Director of the Health Research Board-Clinical Research Facility Galway and a Consultant Nephrologist at Galway University Hospitals, was in charge of the study.
Overall, Professor Smyth’s research found a link between high and moderate alcohol use and a higher risk of stroke, but a strong link between low alcohol use and stroke was not found.
However, because alcohol consumption is correlated with socioeconomic characteristics like education and a variety of lifestyle factors, including smoking, eating habits, and physical activity, its consequences are complicated. It’s crucial to think about the potential effects of what is generally referred to as “binge drinking.” The negative risks associated with seven drinks on one day per week are probably greater than those associated with one drink on each day per week.
“In this study, we also considered how various forms of alcohol differ from one another. The risk of stroke increased by 21% with predominant beer drinking, but it increased by a far greater percentage—73%—for intracerebral hemorrhage. There was no increase or decrease in the risk of stroke associated with predominant wine intake. This could be because different kinds of alcohol pose different risks or because people drink alcohol in different social situations.
The analysis of people who had previously drank but had stopped was part of the INTERSTROKE study. According to the study, they were not at an elevated risk of stroke.
Additional findings from this study included:
- There was no increased risk of ischemic stroke among current drinkers, but there was a 14% risk increase for all strokes and a 50% risk increase for intracerebral hemorrhage (stroke caused by bleeding) (stroke due to clots).
- Heavy episodic drinking, also known as “binge drinking,” was linked to an increase in all strokes of 39%, an increase in ischemic strokes of 29%, and an increase in intracerebral hemorrhage of 76%.Binge drinking is defined as consuming more than five drinks in a single day at least once per month.
- A 57% increase in strokes has been linked to high alcohol consumption, which is defined as more than 14 drinks per week for women and more than 21 drinks per week for men.
The majority of earlier studies were conducted in high-income nations with little cultural diversity, but the global INTERSTROKE study took a different approach by including participants from high, middle, and low-income nations with various levels of education and cardiovascular risk profiles. Professor Michelle Canavan, established Professor of Older Adult Health and Consultant Geriatrician, continued, “Most previous research was completed in high-income nations with little cultural diversity.”
“Alcohol consumption varies across the globe depending on factors like gender, age, social status, education, and occupation, as well as the type of alcohol drunk and drinking habits.
In Western Europe and North America, drinking now was associated with a lower risk of stroke than drinking later, whereas in India and South America, drinking now was associated with a higher risk of stroke. The highest increases in stroke risk were observed in South America, Africa, and India among binge drinkers, as well as in China and South East Asia among heavy drinkers. Because men in these areas are more likely to binge drink, putting in place measures to control how much people drink as a whole may help reduce the risk of stroke.
