Abstract
BackgroundEvidence is sparse on the association between alcohol intakes in the lower range and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to investigate self-reported low and moderate alcohol intakes and subsequent risk of incident AF among current drinkers.MethodsNorwegian population-based health examination surveys assessing self-reported daily alcohol intake (mean grams per day) were linked to health and population registers. Hazard ratios (HR) (95% confidence interval) for time to incident (first) hospitalization with AF by alcohol intake level were assessed by Cox regression, with adjustment for educational level and cardiovascular risk factors except blood pressure.ResultsThe study population included 234,392 participants (49% men). Incident hospitalization with AF was identified in 5043 (2.2%) persons during a mean follow-up of 9 years. Compared to a very low alcohol intake of <1 unit weekly, a moderate consumption in the range of 1 to <2 units daily increased the risk of incident AF by 18% (HR 1.18 [1.06–1.32]). The average risk of incident AF increased by 9% per daily alcohol unit of 12 g (HR 1.09 [1.03, 1.14]). In sex-stratified analyses significant associations were found in men only.ConclusionsWe found that less than two alcohol units/day significantly increased the risk of incident AF, however, in men only. Reduction of even a moderate alcohol intake may thus reduce the risk of AF at the population level.
Highlights
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in the general population, with a prevalence ranging from 0.7% in the age group 55–60 years to 17.8% in those aged 85 years and older [1]
Analyzing 234,392 participants in Norwegian population-based cardiovascular health examination surveys, we aimed to study the risk of incident hospitalization with AF within low and moderate levels of alcohol intake, using very low-level drinking as the referent category
The analyses showed hazard ratio (HR) that were mostly in direction of a slight association between higher alcohol intake and risk of incident AF among women (Table 2) and among participants with both primary, secondary, and tertiary level of education (Table 3), but the confidence intervals were wide
Summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in the general population, with a prevalence ranging from 0.7% in the age group 55–60 years to 17.8% in those aged 85 years and older [1]. Several [7,8,9,10], but not all [11,12,13,14,15,16,17] subsequent studies found an association between a high alcohol consumption and an increased risk of AF, and in some studies among those reporting an intermediate intake [18]. Compared to a very low alcohol intake of
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