Alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for the development of atrial fibrillation
(AF).
1
Three recent meta-analyses suggest a relatively linear relationship between habitual
alcohol consumption and new-onset AF, with an increasing AF risk by 8% for each extra
alcoholic drink per day,
2
by 8% for every 6 standard drinks/week,
3
and by 17% in women consuming > 14 standard drinks/week or 25% in men consuming >
21 standard drinks/week.
4
In addition, 2 recent analyses of large cohorts focused further on the effect of
low alcohol consumption on AF risk. In the UK Biobank cohort, a J-shaped relationship
for alcohol and AF risk has been observed with the lowest AF risk at approximately
5 standard drinks (35 g alcohol)/week.
5
Above this amount, AF risk appeared to rise, with a roughly linear 5% increase in
risk for every 7 standard drinks (56 g alcohol)/week or 1 standard drink (8 g alcohol)/day.
However, these results contrast to a recent report of approximately 100,000 individuals
pooled from different European cohorts suggesting a curvilinear relationship and increase
in AF risk from very low alcohol levels.
6
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 18, 2023
Accepted:
January 9,
2023
Received:
January 2,
2023
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
See article by Grindal et al., pages XXX-XX of this issue.
See page 2 for disclosure information.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Alcohol Consumption and Atrial Arrhythmia Recurrence After Atrial Fibrillation Ablation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysisCanadian Journal of Cardiology
- PreviewAlthough alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), it is unclear whether alcohol is associated with AF recurrences after catheter ablation for AF. We aimed to systematically review the medical literature to assess the impact of alcohol consumption on the recurrence of AF after AF ablation.
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