Association between alcohol consumption and the risk of stroke in middle-aged and older adults in China

A study investigated the association between alcohol consumption and the prevalence of stroke in Chinese adults aged 40 years and over.
A cross-sectional analysis was conducted among 113,573 Chinese adults aged ≥ 40 years in the China National Stroke Prevention Project (2014-2015) to examine correlations of alcohol consumption with the prevalence of stroke. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, controlling for various confounders, e.g., gender, age, smoking, physical activity and other health conditions.
Within the study population, a total of 12,753 stroke survivors were identified. The prevalence of light to moderate and of heavy alcohol consumption was 10.1% and 5.7% respectively. Light to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with reduced risk of stroke of all types [0.91 (95%CI: 0.85-0.97)] and of ischemic stroke [0.90 (0.84-0.97)]. No association was found between alcohol consumption and hemorrhagic stroke. Compared with abstainers, the adjusted ORs of all stroke were 0.83 (0.75-0.92) for those who drank 11-20 years, and no association was found between 1 and 10 years or over 20 years of drinking and risk of stroke.
These results indicate that light to moderate alcohol consumption may be protective against all and ischemic stroke, and heavy drinking was not significantly associated with risk of all stroke in China. No association between alcohol consumption and hemorrhagic stroke was found.
Source: Gan Y, Feng J, Zhu Y, Li L, Shen X, Lou Y, Room R, Lei Z, Yue W, Jiang H, Lu Z. Association between alcohol consumption and the risk of stroke in middle-aged and older adults in China. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 Dec 1;229(Pt B):109134.