Up To Two Drinks Per Day Not Linked With Higher Risk of Irregular Heart Beat for Women

[Guest guest]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own

opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to

receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages

coming from @nutritionucanlivewith.com and the program will remove

anything coming from me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Source: American Medical Association (AMA)

Released: Wed 26-Nov-2008, 17:00 ET

Embargo expired: Tue 02-Dec-2008, 16:00 ET

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546918/?sc=dwhn

Up To Two Drinks Per Day Not Linked With Higher Risk of Irregular Heart

Beat for Women

Description

Women who have up to two alcoholic drinks per day do not appear to be at

increased risk of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), but

drinking more than that amount is associated with a higher risk,

according to a study in the December 3 issue of JAMA.

Newswise — Women who have up to two alcoholic drinks per day do not

appear to be at increased risk of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart

beat), but drinking more than that amount is associated with a higher

risk, according to a study in the December 3 issue of JAMA.

Studies assessing the effects of regular alcohol consumption on the risk

of atrial fibrillation have provided inconsistent results, with several

studies finding significant associations between moderate to high

amounts of alcohol intake and increased risks of atrial fibrillation

among men, but not among women. However, these studies were not of

adequate size to detect significant associations among women, according

to background information in the article.

Conen, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard

Medical School, Boston, and University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland, and

colleagues analyzed data from a completed randomized controlled trial

involving 34,715 women participating in the Women’s Health Study, to

assess the effects of regular alcohol consumption on the risk of atrial

fibrillation. The participants were older than 45 years and had no

atrial fibrillation at the start of the study and underwent follow-up

from 1993 to October 2006. Alcohol consumption was assessed via

questionnaires at the beginning of the trial and at 48 months of

follow-up and was grouped into 4 categories: 0 drinks per day, greater

than 0 and less than 1, 1 or more and less than 2, and 2 or more drinks

per day. Atrial fibrillation was self-reported on the yearly

questionnaires and subsequently confirmed by electrocardiogram and

medical record review.

During a median (midpoint) follow-up of 12.4 years, there were 653

confirmed cases of new atrial fibrillation. Among women consuming no

alcohol (n = 15,370), there were 294 events (1.9 percent); for women

consuming more than 0 and less than 1 drink per day (n = 15,758), there

were 284 events (1.8 percent); for 1 to 2 drinks per day (n = 2,228),

there were 35 events (1.6 percent); and for women consuming 2 or more

drinks per day (n = 1,359), there were 40 atrial fibrillation events

(2.9 percent).

“In the present study, alcohol consumption of up to 2 drinks per day was

not associated with an increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation

among initially healthy, middle-aged women. In contrast, the small group

of women who consumed 2 or more alcoholic beverages per day had a

1.6-fold greater risk for atrial fibrillation relative to nondrinking

women. While this finding needs to be interpreted with some caution

because of the small number of women in some subgroups, it supports a

possible threshold effect in the relationship between alcohol

consumption and risk of atrial fibrillation among women,” the authors write.

(JAMA. 2008;300[21]:2489-2496. Available pre-embargo to the media at

www.jamamedia.org)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information,

including other authors, author contributions and affiliations,

financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/