Abstract
Introduction: Alcohol is an adjustable risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF), but its impact on the young population is unclear. We examined the effect of alcohol intake on the risk of AF in young Korean adults. Hypothesis: The alcohol intake will show positive relationship with the risk of AF. Methods: From the National Health Insurance Service database, we identified 1 537 836 people aged 20-39 without AF who underwent 4 serial annual health checkups during 2009-2012. At the first checkup, we sorted subjects into “No” and “Yes” groups, according to whether their weekly drinking exceeded 105g. They were also scored according to their usual weekly alcohol intake: “0” (n=507 463), “1” (<105g/wk, n=639 651), “2” (105≤g<210/wk, n=242 842), and “3” (210g≤/wk, n=147 880). We defined the alcohol burden as the number of times the subject answered he/she drank more than 105g of alcohol weekly, in the four checkups. Score of cumulative amounts of alcohol was computed by adding up one’s alcohol intake scores over the 4 years. The AF risk was estimated using Cox proportional hazards model. Results: During a median of 5.6±1.2 years, new AF was diagnosed in 3 066 (0.2%). “Yes” group showed a higher risk of AF compared to “No” group (adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.25, p ≤0.001, Panel A). The risk was also in a positive association with the first drinking scores: aHRs with 95% CIs of the “1”, “2”, and “3” groups compared to “0” group were 1.00 (0.91-1.10), 1.11 (0.99-1.24), and 1.21 (1.07-1.37), p =0.039 (Panel B). As 57.3% in alcohol burden 0 group, 13.2% in 1, 9.6% in 2, 9.4% in 3, and 10.0% in 4, aHRs of burden 1, 2, 3, and 4 compared to burden 0 were 1.14 (1.02-1.27), 1.03 (0.90-1.17), 1.15 (1.02-1.30), and 1.24 (1.11-1.39); p =0.001 (Panel C). The score of cumulative amounts of alcohol was in a positive relationship with the risk of AF ( p =0.003, Panel D). Conclusions: Cumulative alcohol burdens and amounts showed positive correlations with the risk of AF in young adults.
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