Alcohol consumption and the risk of incident atrial fibrillation

Alcohol consumption is a known, modifiable risk factor for incident atrial fibrillation. However, it remains unclear whether the protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption that has been reported for various cardiovascular diseases also applies to the risk for new-onset atrial fibrillation . A meta-analysis evaluated the role of different drinking patterns (low: <14 grams/week; moderate: <168 grams/week; and heavy: >168 grams/week) on the risk for incident atrial fibrillation.
Major electronic databases were searched for observational cohorts examining the role of different drinking behaviors on the risk for incident AF. Researchers analysed 16 studies (13,044,007 patients). Incident atrial fibrillation rate was 2.3%. Moderate alcohol consumption significantly reduced the risk for new-onset atrial fibrillation when compared to both abstainers and heavy drinkers. Heavy-drinking pattern compared to low also increased the risk for incident atrial fibrillation.
The findings suggest a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and incident atrial fibrillation. Up to 14 drinks per week seem to decrease the risk for developing atrial fibrillation. The authors comment that because of substantial heterogeneity observed, no robust conclusion can be drawn, but these results suggest that the association between alcohol consumption and incident atrial fibrillation is far from being a straightforward dose-response effect.
Source: Giannopoulos G, Anagnostopoulos I, Kousta M, Vergopoulos S, Deftereos S, Vassilikos V. Alcohol Consumption and the Risk of Incident Atrial Fibrillation: A Meta-Analysis. Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 Feb 13;12(2):479. .