Alcohol can have an almost immediate negative effect on the heart rate. Scientists from the University of California at San Francisco reported this at the annual scientific conference of the American College of Cardiology.
< p> Doctors have long heard complaints from patients that drinking alcohol provokes an attack of ventricular fibrillation (atrial fibrillation) in them — a dangerous type of heart rhythm disturbance. However, this phenomenon is very difficult to study, because the relationship between these phenomena must be studied in real time. That is, you need to “hunt down” the arrhythmia immediately after the person has drunk.
Atrial fibrillation (atrial fibrillation) is a heart rhythm disorder in which the atria contract rapidly and irregularly. At the same time, the ventricles of the heart also contract with an irregular rhythm. This condition increases the risk of developing heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and some other diseases.
Atrial fibrillation often occurs without symptoms. It can be accompanied by a feeling of palpitations, “falling out” of heart beats, weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain.
The new study is the first of its kind. Its authors were able to objectively confirm that attacks of atrial fibrillation are associated with alcohol consumption.
The study involved 100 patients with a mean age of 64 years with transient atrial fibrillation. That is, their rhythm disturbances were not permanent. Participants wore heart monitors that recorded their heart rate. They were asked to turn on the device before drinking alcohol. The level of alcohol in their blood was constantly monitored by a wearable sensor.
A study has shown that even one glass of wine or beer is associated with a doubling of the risk of an atrial fibrillation attack within four hours of drinking. Drinking two or more drinks (one drink is the equivalent of 10 grams of pure alcohol) tripled this risk.
During the four weeks of the study, attacks of atrial fibrillation were recorded in 56 people. It turned out that every 0.1% increase in blood alcohol concentration increased the risk of an attack by 40% for 12 hours. Overall, mean blood alcohol concentration during the study was also found to be a predictor of arrhythmia risk.
Professor Gregory M. Marcus, co-author of the study, noted that many people believe that alcohol in small doses is good for the heart. However, he stressed, recent studies do not confirm this.