Drinking just one drink a day increases the risk of stroke in young people by 20%, according to researchers at Seoul National University.
Although the link between alcohol and stroke has already been established, no study has yet succeeded in defining the exact dose of alcohol associated with an increased risk of stroke. It is now done, thanks to the research of a Korean scientific team.
105 g or more of alcohol per week
As part of this study, researchers at Seoul National University analyzed the records of 1.5 million young adults from a national database for six years.
Each year, participants underwent four examinations during which they were asked about their alcohol consumption.
Volunteers who drank 105g or more of alcohol per week (equivalent to six pints of beer or eight small glasses of wine per week or one drink per day) were considered moderate drinkers.
However, of the 1.5 million participants, 3153 of them suffered from a stroke during the six years of analysis.
The researchers therefore concluded that moderate drinkers were 20% more likely to have a stroke than other volunteers, whose consumption was lower.
Stroke: a risk that increases with the number of years of alcohol
In total, people who drank “moderately to heavily” for two years had a 19% increased risk of stroke, those who drank for three years had a 22% increased risk, and those who drank for four years had a 23% increased risk.
Important clarification: the CVA caused by alcohol was of the “hemorrhagic” type, that is to say due to the rupture of a cerebral artery, causing bleeding in the brain.
However, the researchers would like to point out that other factors were likely to affect the participants’ risk of stroke, such as: high blood pressure, smoking and weight. Alcohol can also increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (a form of irregular heartbeat), which in turn can increase the risk of stroke.
In this context, the author of the study, Eue-Keun Choi, would like to remind that strokes are more common than we think:
“Strokes in young adults have increased over the past few decades. They can lead to death or severe disability.”