Numerous studies have shown that chronic alcohol consumption in significant amounts is strongly associated with increased risk of AF, even when controlling for cardiomyopathy. According to a new study, even modest habitual alcohol intake is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). The authors followed a community-based pooled cohort to examine the association between alcohol consumption, including types of alcohol and drinking patterns, and incident AF. Clinical information was collected regarding cardiovascular risk factors and incident heart failure (HF). N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin I were measured.
A total of 107,845 individuals were followed. The median age of individuals was 47.8 years; 48.3% were men. Average alcohol consumption was assessed in gram per day and categorized according to the World Health Organization average volume drinking categories. Patients were divided into 6 groups: former drinkers, never drinkers (reference group), occasional drinkers (<1 g/day), 1–12 g/day (<1 drink/day), 12.1–24 g/day (>1 drink/day), 24.1–48 g/day (2–4 drinks/day) and more than 48 g/day. The median alcohol consumption was 3 g/day. A total of 5,854 individuals developed AF (median follow-up time, 13.9 years). In Cox regression analysis, alcohol consumption was nonlinearly and positively associated with incident AF. The hazard ratio for one drink (12 g) per day was 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11–1.22). Associations were similar across types of alcohol. In contrast, alcohol consumption at lower doses was associated with reduced risk of incident HF. The association between alcohol consumption and incident AF was neither fully explained by cardiac biomarker concentrations nor by the occurrence of HF.
If the findings of the present study are not secondary to confounders, reduction in alcohol consumption may result in significantly lower AF incidence in the population.
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