Citation
Jones, Sara B.; Loehr, Laura R.; Avery, Christy L.; Gottesman, Rebecca F.; Wruck, Lisa M.; Shahar, Eyal; & Rosamond, Wayne D. (2015). Midlife Alcohol Consumption and the Risk of Stroke in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Stroke, 46(11), 3124-3130. PMCID: PMC4725192Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Alcohol consumption is common in the United States and may confer beneficial cardiovascular effects at light-to-moderate doses. The alcohol-stroke relationship remains debated. We estimated the relationship between midlife, self-reported alcohol consumption and ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in a biracial cohort.METHODS: We examined 12,433 never and current drinkers in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, aged 45 to 64 years at baseline. Participants self-reported usual drinks per week of beer, wine, and liquor at baseline. We used multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression to assess the association of current alcohol consumption relative to lifetime abstention with incident ischemic stroke and ICH and modification by sex-race group. We modeled alcohol intake with quadratic splines to further assess dose-response relationships.
RESULTS: One third of participants self-reported abstention, 39% and 24%, respectively, consumed CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported light-to-moderate alcohol consumption at midlife was not associated with reduced stroke risk compared with abstention over 20 years of follow-up in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Heavier consumption increased the risk for both outcomes as did moderate intake for ICH.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/strokeaha.115.010601Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2015Journal Title
StrokeAuthor(s)
Jones, Sara B.Loehr, Laura R.
Avery, Christy L.
Gottesman, Rebecca F.
Wruck, Lisa M.
Shahar, Eyal
Rosamond, Wayne D.