Not too much… not too little… as with Goldilocks and her porridge, there seems to be a “just right” amount of alcohol for those who want to enjoy it while also minimizing associated health risks. In particular, new research has found that having two or more daily alcoholic drinks was associated with a small but significant risk of atrial fibrillation in women.
Overall, it’s estimated that 2.2 million Americans are affected with this abnormal heart rhythm, including 3% to 5% of people over 65, and 10% of those over age 80. The danger is that atrial fibrillation can lead to clot formation and, as we all know, a clot can cause cardiovascular problems, mainly stroke — in fact, people with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke than others.
To gather information about the role of alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation, researchers investigated data from the Women’s Health Study on more than 30,000 healthy women 45 and older who, at the study’s start, were free of atrial fibrillation. Information on the development of the condition came from self-reported questionnaires and medical record evaluation between 1993 and 2006. There seemed to be no increased risk in those who consumed one alcoholic drink a day, but two or more brought women into a danger zone, increasing risk by 60%.
David Conen, MD, MPH, of University Hospital Basel (Switzerland) was the lead author of the study. He told me that men would be similarly affected, but their threshold would be higher — according to previous studies, about five drinks per day. It’s not clear why there is such a large gender difference, but it has been shown also for other alcohol-related disease outcomes. Dr. Conen adds that doctors also aren’t sure why alcohol consumption causes atrial fibrillation, but they have several theories. It may be that alcohol affects the conduction system of the heart or it might have to do with alcohol’s impact on the autonomic nervous system. In any case though, it can be taken as another reminder that for those who drink alcohol, moderation is a must.
