Binge-drinking ups stroke risk
People who occasionally binge-drink may have are more vulnerable to develop long-term risk of suffering a stroke.
People who occasionally binge-drink are more vulnerable to develop long-term risk of suffering a
stroke, even if they do not regularly drink heavily.
Binge drinking is often defined as having alcohol with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated. It is a kind of purposeful drinking style that is popular in several countries worldwide. It can lead to bladder rupture if the bladder is overfilled and not emptied. It is well known that heavy alcohol consumption increases the odds of developing heart disease and stroke. But the relationship between sporadic binge-drinking and stroke risk has been unclear. To explore this association, researchers from Finland followed 15, 965 adults for a decade and monitored their lifestyle and drinking habits. A binge-drinking episode was defined as having six or more drinks at one sitting for men, and four or more drinks for women. Other factors like age, smoking status and high blood pressure were also taken into consideration.
Over the next 10 years, the study participants suffered a total of 249 strokes. It was found that those who reported indulging in binge-drinking were more likely to suffer a first-time stroke than non-bingers -- regardless of their overall drinking patterns. Further, compared with people who said they never binged, those who did were approximately 60 percent more likely to suffer an ischemic stroke over 10 years. Ischemic strokes, which are caused by a blood clot in the vessels supplying the brain, account for the large majority of stroke cases. Binge-drinking was also linked to 40 percent higher risk of suffering any type of stroke.
Large doses of alcohol are known to have short-term cardiovascular effects like blood pressure abnormalities, increased blood clotting and heart-rhythm disturbances and these may explain the above findings.
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