Heavy Drinking Linked to Stroke in Early Life

Three or more alcoholic drinks per day are sure to a person at a higher risk for experiencing stroke almost a decade and a half earlier than those who don't drink. A study published in Journal of American Academy of Neurology highlighted long-term effects of hevy drinking and early incidents of stoke.

"Heavy drinking has been consistently identified as a risk factor for this type of stroke, which is caused by bleeding in the brain rather than a blood clot," said study author Charlotte Cordonnier, MD, PhD, with the University of Lille Nord de France in Lille, France. "Our study focuses on the effects of heavy alcohol use on the timeline of stroke and the long-term outcome for those people."

The study was conducted on nearly 540 people, whose average age was 71 and were victims to a particular type of stroke known as the intracerebral hemorrhage. The researcher interviewed them on their habits, and also spoke to the caregivers and relatives. Nearly 25 percent of the subjects were heavy drinkers that had about 1.6 ounces of pure alcohol per day. Participants also underwent CT brain scans and their medical records were reviewed.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) a type of stroke that is caused by bleeding within the brain tissue. It can be triggered by brain trauma, or it can occur spontaneously in hemorrhagic stroke.

The researchers say that heavy drinking was linked to stroke at an average age of 60, 14 years before the average age of their non-heavy drinking counterparts.

"It's important to keep in mind that drinking large amounts of alcohol contributes to a more severe form of stroke at a younger age in people who had no significant past medical history," said Cordonnier.