Alcohol increases the risk of coronary disease in women

Young people who consume large quantities are more likely to develop coronary disease than those who do not drink. A study of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta shows that young women who consume either a drink a day or more than 8 drinks a week are at risk more than those who do not drink. The risk is higher in both men and women who reported intense alcohol consumption, but the relationship between alcohol and heart disease seems to be particularly strong in women, according to the findings. The study focused on adults aged 18 to 65 and researchers used data from more than 430,000 people who received medical care in the American health organisation “Kaiser Permanente Northern California”. Participants were on average 44 years of age and had no heart disease at the start of the study. Researchers analysed the relationship between the alcohol level reported by participants during the period 2014-2015 and the diagnosis of coronary disease during the four years following. Based on self-reporting estimates, researchers categorized the total alcohol consumption of participants as low (one to two drinks per week), moderate (three to 14 drinks per week for men and three to seven drinks per week for women) or high (15 or more drinks per week for men and eight or more drinks per week for women). They also categorized participants according to whether they were overdrinking alcohol, i.e. more than four drinks for men or more than three drinks for women on a single day in the last three months. Individuals who reported that they were not using alcohol were not included in the study. Researchers adapted the data to take account of age, physical activity, smoking and other cardiovascular risk factors. It was found that the incidence of coronary disease increased with the highest levels of alcohol consumption. Among women, those who reported high alcohol consumption had 45% higher risk of heart disease than those reported low consumption and 29% higher risk than those reported with moderate consumption. Men with high alcohol consumption had 33% more chances of developing heart disease than men who had moderate consumption. The difference was greater among those in the category of excessive consumption, as women in this class had 68% more chances of developing heart disease than women who reported moderate consumption. On the contrary, the results showed no significant difference in risk between those who reported moderate versus low alcohol consumption. As noted, a restriction of the study is that people tend to understate alcohol intake, so the study may provide conservative estimates of the risk of heart disease associated with alcohol consumption.