Recent Heavy Drinking of Alcohol and Embolic Stroke

Abstract

Background and Purpose-Epidemiological evidence suggests that heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk for ischemic stroke, whereas light-to-moderate alcohol intake decreases the risk, but the role of different drinking patterns has remained unclear. We investigated recent light, moderate, and heavy alcohol drinking and former heavy drinking as risk factors for acute ischemic brain infarction by etiological subtype of stroke. Methods-We compared 212 consecutive patients aged between 16 and 60 years, who were completely evaluated for the etiology of their ischemic stroke, with 274 control subjects admitted to the emergency unit of the same hospital. ORs, as estimates of multivariate relative risks (RRs), and 95% CIs after adjustment for possible confounding variables were calculated by logistic regression. The ORs were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipemia, current smoking, and history of migraine. Results-Recent heavy drinking but not former heavy drinking was an independent risk factor for stroke (RR 1.82, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.05). Consumption of 151 to 300 g and Ͼ300 g alcohol within the week preceding the onset of stroke significantly increased the risk for cardioembolic and cryptogenic stroke. Consumption of Ͼ40 g alcohol within the preceding 24 hours increased the risk for cardiogenic embolism to the brain among those who had a high-risk source (RR 4.75, 95% CI 1.23 to 18.4), the risk for tandem embolism among those who had prominent large-artery atherosclerosis (RR 7.68, 95% CI 1.82 to 32.3), and the risk for cryptogenic stroke (RR 3.84, 95% CI 1.69 to 8.71). Light drinking did not increase the risk for stroke. Conclusions-We conclude that acute drinking of intoxicating amounts of alcohol may trigger the onset of embolic stroke among subjects who have a source of thrombus in the heart or the large arteries. (Stroke. 1999;30:2307-2312.)

Alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk in hypertensives with left ventricular hypertrophy: the LIFE study

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Computed tomography scan in the evaluation of patients with stroke

“…Increased frequency and severity of atherosclerosis in the circle of Willis as well as in the middle cerebral, basilar and carotid arteries is observed in diabetics. 24 Matti Hillborm et al 25 in 1999 investigated the effect of alcohol as a risk factor for acute ischemic stroke. They found that recent (past week) heavy drinking (151-300g) but not former heavy drinking was an independent risk factor for stroke.…”

Genetic polymorphisms and related risk factors of ischemic stroke in a Mongolian population in China

“…ALDH-E2 involves in the oxidative pathway of alcohol metabolism (Smith, 1986;Hempel et al, 1987). Substantial evidence indicated that alcohol abuse is sever risk factor for stroke (Gill et al, 1986(Gill et al, , 1991Hillbom et al, 1999;Klatsky et al, 2001;Mazzaglia et al, 2001). ALDH2 polymorphisms play a pivotal role on hypertension (Hasi et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2013;Yokoyama et al, 2013;Hu et al, 2014), heart disease (Gu, Li, 2014;Mizuno et al, 2015) and stroke (Yao et al, 2011;Lai et al, 2012).…”