News - Hypertension Week of Feb. 9, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 06

Study: Amount of Alcohol Consumed Impacts Stroke Risk

The amount of alcoholic beverages a person consumes has a dramatic impact on their likelihood of suffering a stroke, according to researchers at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

As reported in the Feb. 5th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that people who drink a small or moderate amount of alcoholic beverages have less of a chance of suffering from total and ischemic stroke, while heavy drinkers run an increased risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke.

After examining 35 previous studies regarding alcohol usage and stroke risk, the researchers found that people who consumed more than 60 grams of alcohol per day were 64 percent more likely to have a stroke of any kind, 69 percent more likely to have an ischemic stroke and more than twice as likely to have hemorrhagic stroke.

People who consumed less than 12 grams of alcohol a day were 17 percent less likely to have a stroke of any kind and 20 percent less likely to suffer an ischemic stroke. More moderate daily drinking of 12 to 24 grams of alcohol was associated with 28 percent less risk of ischemic stroke.

"These results indicate that heavy alcohol consumption increases the relative risk of stroke while light or moderate alcohol consumption may be protective against total and ischemic stroke," concluded the researchers.

Other sources: Journal of the American Medical Association 2003;289:579-588