Another Alcohol Related Stroke Study

It has been proven in study after study that one of the long term effects of alcohol abuse can be  strokes, what has been harder to pinpoint is the actual onset of stroke as it relates to alcohol intake.

A study carried out by Tulane University, published in 2004, directly linked the units of alcohol consumed to the risk levels of having a stroke. In addition, they found that low-level consumption of alcohol might in fact provide some protection against ischaemic strokes.

Kristi Reynolds, Tulane University said,

“Light to moderate alcohol consumption may be protective against … stroke while heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk,”

In a new collaborative study of 390 patients, carried across a variety of institutions, researchers have delved more deeply into the question of how soon after the intake of alcohol does a stoke onset. 366 of the 390 patients confirmed that they had consumed alcohol. This is a huge 94%. This data can be further broken down to identify an exact timeframe for the alcohol consumption. It turns out that 28% of the respondents to the study had consumed alcohol within 24 hours of having the stroke. 4% had a stroke within 1 hour of consuming alcohol.

This has led the researchers to conclude that there is an elevated risk of stroke in the first hour after consumption of alcohol. No doubt, this will not be the last study into this area of research. The study was small and data needs to be gathered across a much larger group. The interaction between alcohol consumption and various conditions including hypertension, atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy, haemorrhagic stroke is widely proven. However, the units of consumption, types of alcohol consumed and the time frames within which the alcohol is consumed all need to be studied further before any definitive conclusions can be drawn.

The warning is to follow your doctor’s advice and national guidelines to ensure that you minimize your risk factors as much as possible.

Medical University of South Carolina

Stroke Onset Study

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Alcohol News: Alcohol News – 30/2010

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