Publication

Patterns of alcohol consumption and acute myocardial infarction: a case-crossover analysis

Journal Paper/Review - Apr 22, 2009

Units
PubMed
Doi

Citation
Gerlich M, Krämer A, Gmel G, Maggiorini M, Lüscher T, Rickli H, Kleger G, Rehm J. Patterns of alcohol consumption and acute myocardial infarction: a case-crossover analysis. Eur Addict Res 2009; 15:143-9.
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
Eur Addict Res 2009; 15
Publication Date
Apr 22, 2009
Issn Electronic
1421-9891
Pages
143-9
Brief description/objective

BACKGROUND
Alcohol consumption has been causally related to the incidence of coronary heart disease, but the role of alcohol before the event has not been explored in depth. This study tested the hypothesis that heavy drinking (binge drinking) increases the risk of subsequent acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), whereas light to moderate drinking occasions decrease the risk.

METHODS
Case-crossover design of 250 incident AMI cases in Switzerland, with main hypotheses tested by conditional logistic regression.

RESULTS
Alcohol consumption 12 h before the event significantly increased the risk of AMI (OR 3.1; 95% CI 1.4-6.9). Separately, the effects of moderate and binge drinking before the event on AMI were of similar size but did not reach significance. In addition, AMI patients showed more binge drinking than comparable control subjects from the Swiss general population.

CONCLUSIONS
We found no evidence that alcohol consumption before the event had protective effects on AMI. Instead, alcohol consumption increased the risk.