Heart disease is one of the primary causes of mortality in persons who drink excessively. While it is widely known that prolonged heavy alcohol consumption can result in alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a recent study by Kaiser Permanente Northern California found that young to middle-aged women who consumed more than one alcoholic beverage per day had an average higher risk of coronary heart disease than those who drank less.
The latest study was discussed at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session.
According to the study, women who reported consuming eight or more alcoholic drinks weekly had a 33–51% increased risk of coronary heart disease. Additionally, the study found that women who binge drink or consume three or more alcoholic beverages in a day had a 68% higher risk of developing coronary heart disease compared to those who drink in moderation. The risk of heart disease, however, was 33% higher for males who reported binge drinking than for those males who drank moderately.
Data from 432,265 individuals, aged 18 to 65, who were treated at Kaiser Permanente Northern California were examined for this study. Between 2014 and 2015, the group—which consisted of around 243,000 men and 189,000 women—completed periodic screenings in which they disclosed their alcohol consumption. Next, throughout the course of the next four years, researchers examined the diagnoses of coronary heart disease among individuals.
Depending on how much alcohol they drank, the participants were split into three groups: low (1-2 drinks each week), moderate (3 to 14 drinks each week for men and 3 to 7 drinks each week for women) and high (15 and above drinks each week for men and 8 and above drinks each week for women).
The participants were then divided into groups based on whether or not they had binge drank in the previous three months. Binge drinking was defined as having over four drinks in a single day for males and more than three drinks a day for women. Those who said they didn’t drink alcohol were excluded.
3,108 patients received a coronary heart disease diagnosis throughout the course of the four-year follow-up period. Higher alcohol intake was linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. The biggest risk was shown in men and women who reported excessive recurrent drinking, or binge drinking.
The results indicated that women had an unusually substantial correlation between alcohol use and coronary heart disease.
Women absorb alcohol differently than males do because of biological and physiologic differences, according to senior author Stacy A. Sterling, DrPH, MSW, a research scientist at the Division of Research. She says that this may be a factor in the higher risk of heart disease that they discovered.
“It’s concerning because there has been an increasing prevalence of alcohol use among young and middle-aged women, including in the number of women who binge drink.”
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