Binge eating linked to first-episode arrhythmia

New Year's Day, Super Bowl Sunday and some other days when people drink more alcohol are also associated with more emergency room visits for atrial fibrillation, an often fatal heart rhythm disorder, a new UCSF-led study reports.

The study, published January 12, 2022 in Nature Cardiovascular Research, is the first link between increased alcohol consumption and hospital manifestations of atrial fibrillation (AF) in a large population, and the first link to increased acute alcohol consumption The incidence of recently diagnosed atrial fibrillation in previously undiagnosed individuals

"Our new data suggest that acute alcohol consumption in the general population is associated with a higher risk of AF episodes, including a higher risk of first AF episodes in people who have never been diagnosed with the condition before

"Alcohol is the most popular drug worldwide, and it is now clear that alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for atrial fibrillation," he said

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 158,000 people die from AF in the United States each year

Atrial fibrillation most commonly occurs in individuals with heart disease, but other chronic health conditions, including potentially modifiable behaviors such as obesity and alcohol consumption, have also been implicated in its development

Marcus recently conducted a controlled interventional study of 100 patients with atrial fibrillation who were about to undergo surgery and found that elevated blood alcohol levels trigger physiological changes in the heart

In the new study, Marcus' research team first identified the days when people were more likely to drink more

Researchers determined that people using breathalyzers drank more alcohol than usual on eight different holidays or days with frequent national events: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Daylight Savings 4th of July, Christmas, FIFA World Cup and Father's Day

"In a broad population that includes all Californians, we wanted to test the hypothesis that during the dates and events we first identified associated with elevated alcohol consumption in breathalyzer users, we We 'll also see more emergency department visits for atrial fibrillation

Researchers reviewed California Statewide Office of Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) hospital emergency room visits in California between January 1, 2005, and December 30, 2015, and compared the weeks of alcohol consumption with the rest of the year.

They found a significant increase in hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation for all of these empirically determined events compared to other days of the year

"A 'negative control' analysis examining another common heart rate problem - supraventricular tachycardia - did not reveal the same relationship, suggesting that alcohol does have unique importance as a risk factor for acute atrial fibrillation , rather than using alcohol as a general determinant of medical attention, or even all heart rate issues," explained Marcus

To analyze the incidence of atrial fibrillation hospitalizations among California population subgroups, the researchers disaggregated data by age, sex, and race/ethnicity of emergency department patients with atrial fibrillation, and used 2019 California Census data to measure the overall subgroup population size

In addition, compared with other days that relapsed on days associated with elevated drinking, the researchers found a greater percentage of hospital visits with increased AF in those with undiagnosed AF, compared to increased ER visits on these days with the condition previously diagnosed

"This may be a wake-up call for those with identifiable triggers for atrial fibrillation who, we might think, are more motivated to avoid alcohol and thus reduce their risk of atrial fibrillation,