A research team at Seoul National University Hospital has discovered that changes in drinking habits after a new diagnosis of atrial fibrillation can lower the risk of stroke.

A joint research team has confirmed that alcohol abstinence for patients with atrial fibrillation incidents can lower the risk of stroke. They are, from left, Professors Choi Eue-keun and Lee So-ryong of Seoul National University Hospital and Professor Han Kyung-do of Soongsil University.
A joint research team has confirmed that alcohol abstinence for patients with atrial fibrillation incidents can lower the risk of stroke. They are, from left, Professors Choi Eue-keun and Lee So-ryong of Seoul National University Hospital and Professor Han Kyung-do of Soongsil University.

Atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia, is a disease with a high prevalence and happens in about 10 percent of older adults. Stroke is the most common complication and the number one cause of cardiovascular death in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Compared to those without atrial fibrillation, patients with atrial fibrillation have a five to seven times higher risk of stroke.

The team, led by Professors Choi Eue-keun and Lee So-ryong of the Department of Cardiology, found changes in the patient’s drinking habit could lower the risk of possible stroke cases. Professor Han Kyung-do of the Department of Statistical Information and Actuarial Science at Soongsil University also participated in the study.

The research team compared 35,299 people who continued to drink and 12,789 who abstained from alcohol among newly diagnosed patients with atrial fibrillation between 2010 and 2016.

Afterward, the team conducted a follow-up study with such patients regarding their stroke incidence for an average of three years.

As a result, the team confirmed that abstinence patients had a 14 percent reduction in stroke risk.

The team stressed that the results are significant.

While there have been studies on alcohol consumption and stroke occurrence in patients with atrial fibrillation, this is the first study to show that abstinence from alcohol reduces the risk of stroke after diagnosis, it said.

“We found that lifestyle modifications, such as abstinence from alcohol, can lower the risk of stroke in patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation,” Professor Choi said. “Based on these results, we have prepared a scientific basis for recommending abstinence from alcohol to patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in the clinic.”

The European Heart Journal has published the results of the study.

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