

Ilyas, M.B.B.S., Transplant Hepatologist, Mayo Clinic Hi, I'm Dr. The epidemic of obesity is also contributing to the growing numbers, along with other risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, smoking and yes, drinking alcohol.Sumera I. “Age is one of the most important risk factors, so with the aging of the population it’s becoming more common,” Marcus said. In Europe, some 17.9 million are expected to suffer from the condition by 2060. The rate of AFib in the US population is growing: The CDC estimates some 12.1 million Americans will have AFib by 2030. But for others, AFib is symptomless, a potentially silent killer. Many of those suffer chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath and fatigue. All of those things are likely long term risks,” Marcus said.Īt least 2.7 million Americans are living with AFib, according to the American Heart Association. “It also can increase the risk for heart attack, for dementia, for kidney disease. It can lead to blood clots, heart failure and other heart-related complications. Popular blood thinner warfarin no longer recommended for most atrial fibrillation cases In addition, strokes connected to AFib tend to be “more severe than strokes with other underlying causes,” the CDC said. “It merely helps us understand the possible mechanisms behind the observations that people who drink have higher rates of arrhythmias.”ĪFib is an irregular heartbeat often described by many sufferers as a “quiver,” “flutter” or “flip-flop” of the heart in the chest.Ītrial fibrillation is the leading cause of stroke in the United States, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “This study, however, does not address the question of whether or not moderate drinking is ‘good or bad’ for the heart, particularly in the long-term,” Marcus added.

Marco Perez, director of the Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Clinic at Stanford University Medical Center, who was not involved in the research.

“It is a first-in-human demonstration of the immediate effects of alcohol, directly on the heart,” said Dr. What Apple Watch can teach you about your heart “The electrical changes we observed in the pulmonary veins … would enhance both the chance that atrial fibrillation will occur immediately, and would be maintained,” Marcus said. The change they saw was startling: Alcohol appeared to immediately affect the heart’s natural recovery period in a way that could trigger an atrial fibrillation event. 08% – just above the legal limit in the United States. Marcus and his team put 100 heart patients with diagnosed AFib – the most common life-threatening heart-rhythm disorder – under anesthesia and then injected them with enough booze to bring their blood alcohol level to. The research on atrial fibrillation, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology, was unique because it was a randomized, double-blinded clinical study – considered the “gold standard” in research. Gregory Marcus, the associate chief of cardiology for research at the University of California, San Francisco. “Ours is the first study to point to a mechanism through which a lifestyle factor can acutely change the electrical properties of the heart to increase the chance of an arrhythmia,” said study author Dr. No amount of alcohol is good for your overall health, global study says Peter Dazeley/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images
