Daily Dose: Alcohol Use & Stroke in Young Adults

Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On November 7, 2022, we reviewed a study published in Neurology that examined the association between cumulative alcohol burden and the risk for stroke among young adults.

The study

Researchers tapped the Korean National Health Insurance Service database for participants, seeking adults ages 20 to 29 years who had 4 consecutive annual health exams from 2009 to 2012. Based on participants’ (n=1 536 668) self-report of alcohol consumption at the exams, the investigators calculated a cumulative alcohol burden score for each by assigning a score of 1 for each year weekly alcohol consumption was reported at ≥105 g. Burden scores ranged from 0 (no years at that level of alcohol consumption) to 4 (4 years with weekly alcohol consumption at ≥105 g). People who drank 105 g of alcohol per week, or 15 g per day, for 2 years were 19% more likely to have a stroke over approximately 6 years of study follow-up vs light drinkers.

Clinical implications

"Reducing alcohol consumption should be emphasized in young adults with heavy drinking habits as part of any stroke prevention strategy," wrote authors.

Click here for the full study review.