Alcohol Accelerates Stroke Risk

Previously, a number of studies suggest a contributory role of  beverages in stroke risk.  Pavla Kadlecova, from St. Anne’s University Hospital (Czech Republic), and colleagues followed 11,644 middle-aged Swedish twins for 43 years.  Data analysis revealed that those subjects who drank 2 or more alcoholic beverage a day were at 34% higher risk of stroke, as compared to those who drank less than half an alcoholic beverage daily.  Among men and women in their 50s and 60s, those who drank 2 or more alcoholic beverage a day were likely to have a stroke 5 years earlier in life, regardless of genetic and other contributing factors.  The study authors report that: “Stroke-risk associated with heavy drinking ([over]2 drinks/d) in midlife seems to predominate over well-known risk factors, hypertension and diabetes, until the age of [approximately] 75 years and may shorten time to stroke by 5 years above and beyond covariates and genetic/early-life factors. Alcohol consumption should be considered an age-varying risk factor for stroke.”