Even moderate alcohol consumption may put older adults with heart disease or diabetes at risk of developing a common form of arrhythmia, a new study says.
The work suggests that people who are in their 60s or beyond and who have had a heart attack, stroke, hardening of the arteries or Type 2 diabetes should be careful about how much they drink.
One of the authors said Monday that this might be perplexing for people who have been told for years that a daily drink may be good for heart health.
"It is in a way confusing because if I was 65 or 70, I'm used to having two drinks a day because my doctor says it's good - now this new study says 'You know, maybe it's not so good,' " said Dr. Koon Teo, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton.
Based on these findings, Koon, a cardiologist, said he would tell patients "two drinks or less may be better than two drinks or more."
The study was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The findings are drawn from an analysis of data from two trials designed to study treatment regimens for controlling high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. The studies enrolled more than 30,000 adults in 40 countries. The median age of subjects was 66 and they were followed for four to five years.
The studies were aimed at teasing out risk factors for atrial fibrillation, the most common form of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat.
People who suffer from this often complain of the sensation that their heart is racing, or that they are dizzy or breathless, even when they aren't exerting themselves. The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation estimates that about 350,000 Canadians have atrial fibrillation.
The condition puts sufferers at risk of having a stroke. People with atrial fibrillation are three to five times more likely to have a stroke than people who don't have the condition.
In this study, when moderate and heavy drinkers were compared to people who drank lightly, higher rates of atrial fibrillation were seen. Low-level drinkers consume less than a drink a week. Moderate drinkers imbibe between one and 14 drinks a week for women and one to 21 for men. Heavy drinkers consume more than that.
