Light Alcohol Use Related To Reduced Sudden Death In Women

In the October issue of Heart Rhythm, investigators from the Nurses' Health Study report that light to moderate alcohol use is associated with a reduced risk of sudden death in women.

The Nurses' Health Study enrolled over 85,000 women in 1980 (back in those primitive days when "nurses" and "women" were considered synonymous terms), and has followed them for 30 years. Investigators now report that women who consumed one-half to one alcoholic beverage per day had, over a 25 year period, a significantly reduced incidence of sudden cardiac death than did abstainers.

Women who drank more than this, however, had an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, stroke and cancer.

A reduced incidence of sudden death in men who consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol has been reported in previous studies. This is the first large study which examined the question in women.

There are now a number of studies that strongly suggest a cardiovascular benefit from consuming small amounts of alcohol. However, physicians have to weigh such findings against the more massive and far more definitive evidence that consuming larger amounts of alcohol greatly increases not only cardiac risk, but the risk of many other types of medical problems. Added to this is the inherently addictive nature of alcohol, and the great difficulty many people have in limiting their consumption to small amounts.

In consideration of these factors, so far most doctors have refrained from recommending that patients adopt light alcohol consumption, and indeed, have generally decided not to discuss with their patients the evidence that small amounts of alcohol may be beneficial.