Research has unraveled the worrying link detected in the United States between intensive alcohol consumption and more serious and early strokes. The study, which analyzed 1,600 patients hospitalized for cerebral hemorrhage, explains that those who drink three or more drinks a day suffer strokes 11 years earlier than those who do not consume alcohol or do so moderately.
Research shows that patients with these consumption habits arrive at the hospital with brain hemorrhages that, in addition to being up to 70% larger, tend to settle in deeper areas of the brain, which further compromises their prognosis. In fact, they are almost twice as likely to experience a particularly dangerous combination: the stroke spreads to the brain ventricles, something that specialists link to worse recovery rates and greater risk of severe disability. The study is published today in the journal Neurologyfrom the American Academy of Neurology.
“Cerebral hemorrhage is one of the most lethal and disabling conditions known to humans,” says Edip Gurol, lead author of the study and researcher in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “They appear suddenly, cause serious damage and often leave patients with disabilities that change their lives. It is one of the most difficult diseases to overcome,” adds this researcher.
In their study, the scientists defined heavy drinking as regularly drinking three or more alcoholic drinks a day, which is equivalent to about 42 grams of alcohol, such as three cans of beer or three glasses of wine. The analysis showed a marked age difference: patients classified as drinkers strong They suffered the stroke at an average age of 64 years. The rest of the patients—who drank fewer than three drinks or nothing at all—suffered the stroke at an average age of 75, with a difference of 11 years. Although the majority of the patients studied were Caucasian, Gurol considers that the results are “very generalizable” to other populations, such as African-American, Hispanic or Asian patients.
For the neurologist José Manuel Moltó, “the work is good and they have collected data from a significant number of patients,” although he clarifies that “they have not discovered anything new, but rather they have systematized very well” the study of a risk factor that was already known. Moltó, a neurologist at the Hospital Verge dels Lliris in Alcoi and member of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), believes that perhaps the excesses of alcohol on cognitive impairment or the liver “are better known”; So this study, in which he was not involved, may help better understand the neurological impacts of alcohol consumption.
There is no safe consumption
Moltó clarifies that, in the Spanish context, “three daily consumptions, for many people, is not high, although it really is.” The expert believes that the weakness of many studies is self-reported consumption, that is, it is the patients who say how much they drink, and that may not correspond to reality. “Perhaps the most important thing is to know if the habit is continuous,” he highlights.
The team behind the new study also linked heavy drinking to more serious signs of small vessel disease (SVD), chronic damage to the brain’s tiny arteries that is a key risk factor for both stroke and cognitive decline. Heavy drinkers were more than three times as likely to have severe signs of damage to the brain’s white matter, an indicator of advanced VPD. Researchers propose that alcohol acts in two ways: by raising blood pressure – which damages and weakens the vessels – and by reducing the platelet count – which makes it difficult to clot and stop any leaks. According to Moltó, this involvement of the small vessels is a “very well-known, very common” phenomenon and has traditionally been associated with other risk factors such as “hypertension and diabetes.”
All this suggests that there is no completely safe consumption of alcohol. “Minimizing or stopping drinking alcohol is an important step to reduce risk,” says Gurol. “Even for people who have a relatively low risk of brain hemorrhage, limiting alcohol consumption to no more than three drinks per week can be an effective measure to protect against all types of stroke and preserve both brain and cardiovascular health,” he adds. Moltó agrees that moderate alcohol consumption “does not have any proven beneficial effect” and that reducing it should be part of a comprehensive prevention strategy. “A lot can be done to prevent both stroke and cognitive impairment, controlling tension, diabetes and reducing alcohol consumption to a very small amount,” concludes Moltó, adding this guideline to a healthy and active lifestyle.
