Drinking patterns of alcohol and risk of major adverse cardiovascular events after an acute coronary syndrome

In a paper published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers evaluated the risk of alcohol consumption after acute coronary syndromes (ACS).
A total of 6,557 patients hospitalised for ACS at four Swiss centres were followed over 12 months. Weekly alcohol consumption was collected at baseline and 12 months. Binge drinking was defined as consumption of ≥6 units of alcohol on one occasion. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were defined as a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, stroke or clinically indicated target vessel coronary revascularization. The risk of MACE in patients with heavy (>14 standard units/week), moderate (7-14 standard units per week), light consumption (<1 standard unit/week) or abstinence, and with binge drinking episodes, were assessed and adjusted for baseline differences.
At baseline, 13.4% of patients reported heavy weekly alcohol consumption. At one-year follow-up, 41.6% patients reported having at least one or more episodes of binge drinking per month. The risk for MACE was not significantly higher in those with heavy weekly consumption compared to abstinence (8.6% vs. 10.2%, HR 0.97, 95%CI 0.69-1.36) or light consumption (8.6% vs. 8.5 %, HR 1.41, 95%CI 0.97-2.06). Compared to patients with no-binge drinking, the risk of MACE was dose-dependently higher in those with binge drinking with less than one episode per month (9.2% vs 7.8%, HR 1.61, 95%CI 1.23-2.11), or one or more episodes per month (13.6% vs 7.8%, HR 2.17, 95%CI 1.66-2.83). Binge drinking during the year following an ACS, even less than once per month, is associated with worse clinical outcomes, the researchers concluded.
Source: Tessitore E, Branca M, Heg D, Nanchen D, Auer R, Räber L, Klingenberg R, Windecker S, Lüscher TF, Carballo S, Matter CM, Gmel G, Mukamal KJ, Rodondi N, Carballo D, Mach F, Gencer B. Drinking patterns of alcohol and risk of major adverse cardiovascular events after an acute coronary syndrome. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2023 Nov 23:zwad364.