Alcohol as a factor for sudden cardiac death and/or fatal ventricular arrhythmia

The association between alcohol consumption and the risk of sudden cardiac death and/or fatal ventricular arrhythmia remains controversial. Researchers analysed the association between alcohol consumption, genetic traits for alcohol metabolism, and the risk of sudden cardiac death and/or fatal ventricular arrhythmia.
The authors identified 397,164 individuals enrolled between 2006 and 2010 from the UK Biobank database and followed them until 2021. Alcohol consumption was categorised as current non-drinkers (non-drinkers and ex-drinkers), mild drinkers, moderate drinkers, or heavy drinkers. Genetic traits of alcohol metabolism were stratified according to the polygenic risk score tertiles. The primary and secondary outcomes were a composite of sudden cardiac death and fatal ventricular arrhythmia as well as their components.
During follow-up (median 12.5 years), 3,543 cases (0.89%) of clinical outcomes occurred. Although mild, moderate, and heavy drinkers showed decreased risks of outcomes compared with current non-drinkers, there was no prognostic difference among non-drinkers, mild drinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. Ex-drinkers showed an increased risk in univariate analysis, but the significance was attenuated after adjusting covariates (hazard ratio 1.19; 95% confidence interval 0.94-1.50). As a continuous variable, alcohol consumption was not associated with clinical outcomes (hazard ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval 0.99-1.02). Consistent with these findings, there was no association between genetic traits for alcohol metabolism and the risk of clinical outcomes.
Alcohol consumption was neither a protective factor nor a risk factor for sudden cardiac death or fatal ventricular arrhythmia. Genetic traits of alcohol metabolism were not associated with the clinical prognosis.
Source: Park, C.S., Choi, J., Choi, J., Lee, K.Y., Ahn, H.J., Kwon, S., Lee, S.R., Choi, E.K., Kwak, S.H., Oh, S. (2024) Alcohol is neither a risk factor nor a protective factor for sudden cardiac death and/or fatal ventricular arrhythmia: A population-based study with genetic traits and alcohol consumption in the UK Biobank. Heart Rhythm, 21(10):1820-1826.