Alcohol drinking and risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
In view of conflicting prior reports, we prospectively studied associations between alcohol consumption and subsequent hospitalization for hemorrhagic stroke (HS) in 431 persons. Alcohol use was determined at examinations in 1978-1984 among 128,934 members of a prepaid health plan. Cox proportional hazards models, with 6 covariates, yielded the following multivariate relative risks (95% CI's) for HS: lifelong abstainers (ref) = 1.0, exdrinkers = 0.9 (0.5-1.5), persons drinking <1/month = 1.1 (0.8-1.4), >1/month; <1 drink/day = 0.7 (0.5-0.9), 1-2/day = 0.8 (0.6-1.1), 3-5/day = 1.0 (0.6-1.5), 6+/day = 1.9 (1.0-3.5). Relationships to alcohol were similar for subarachnoid (31% of HS) or intracerebral hemorrhage (69% of HS) and in men or women. Beverage choice (wine, beer, and liquor) was not independently related. We conclude that only heavy drinking is weakly related to increased HS risk and that light drinking need not be proscribed with respect to HS risk.
Klatsky
Arthur L
AL
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oakland, Calif 94611, USA. hartmavn@pacbell.net
Armstrong
Mary Anne
MA
Friedman
Gary D
GD
Sidney
Stephen
S
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*