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Geneva study: binge drinking raises heart attack risk significantly

person carrying 3 beers.
According to a Geneva study, drinking behaviour in the year following a heart attack plays a major role in the likelihood of another heart attack. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / ANTHONY ANEX

Binge drinking or two beers a day? According to a Geneva study, drinking behaviour in the year following a heart attack plays a major role in the likelihood of another heart attack.

Binge drinking, i.e. the occasional bender, is significantly more harmful than moderate and regular alcohol consumption.

Even if alcohol is consumed less than once a month, excessive consumption doubles the likelihood of another heart attack, according to the study by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The University Hospital of Geneva and the University of Geneva (UNIGE) announced on Monday that it is not the frequency, but the amount of alcohol consumed in an evening that determines the course of the disease after a heart attack.

This finding is important because recommendations on alcohol consumption after a heart attack were previously unknown, according to the researchers.

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To investigate the link between alcohol consumption and outcomes for patients who have had a heart attack, the researchers analysed data from over 6,500 patients in Switzerland during a period of 12 months following their heart attack.

Five drinking profiles

They compared five different drinking profiles: excessive alcohol consumption (more than 14 glasses per week), moderate consumption (7-14 glasses per week), low consumption (less than one glass per week), abstinence (no alcohol at all), and binge drinking, i.e. episodic excessive consumption, defined as six or more glasses, on one occasion.

While the risk of a further heart attack in people with excessive or moderate consumption did not differ significantly from people with low consumption or abstinence, people who fell into the binge-drinking category suffered additional heart attacks significantly more often.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/amva

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