A new study has revealed that individuals in their 20s and 30s who drink moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol are at a higher risk of young adult stroke than those who drink little to no amounts of alcohol.
The risk of stroke was increased with longevity of moderate and heavy drinking.
Study author, Eue-Keun Choi, says: “The rate of stroke among young adults has been increasing over the last few decades, and stroke in young adults causes death and serious disability.
“If we could prevent stroke in young adults by reducing alcohol consumption, that could potentially have a substantial impact on the health of individuals and the overall burden of stroke on society.”
Researchers examined records from a Korean national health database for people in their twenties and thirties how had four annual health exams.
Those monitored were followed for an average of six years.
They were questioned on the number of days per week they drank alcohol along with the average amount of drinks per time.
Those who drank 105 grams or more per week were considered moderate or heavy drinkers. This is equivalent to 443ml or just over one drink per day.
More than 1.5 million individuals were involved in this study and 3,153 of those individuals had a young adult stroke during the study.
The study found that those who were moderate to heavy drinkers for two or more years of the study, they were roughly 20 per cent more likely to have a stroke than those who were either light drinkers or did not drink alcohol at all.
As the numbers of years of moderate to heavy drinking increased, so did the risk of young adult stroke.
Individuals with two years of moderate to heavy drinking had a 19 per cent increased risk, three years corresponded to a 22 per cent increase in risk and four years had a 23 per cent increase.
These results were given after researchers accounted for other factors that could affect the risk of stroke, such as high blood pressure.
This association was mainly due to an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke.
Choi says: “Since more than 90% of the burden of stroke overall can be attributed to potentially modifiable risk factors, including alcohol consumption, and since stroke in young adults severely impacts both the individual and society by limiting their activities during their most productive years, reducing alcohol consumption should be emphasized in young adults with heavy drinking habits as part of any strategy to prevent stroke.”
The obvious limitation of this study is that it only Korean people included, meaning results may differ across different nationalities and ethnicities.
