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 In an analysis of data from nearly 3,000 adults from northwest
Russia, researchers found that heavy drinking and bingeing were
associated with increased levels of blood biomarkers that indicate
damage to heart tissue, according to the report in the Journal of
the American Heart Association.
The new study shows that "heavy drinking leads to damage of the
structure and function of the heart," said study leader Olena
Iakunchykova, a PhD candidate at the University in Tromso - The
Arctic University of Norway. "Even though you may not experience
symptoms right away, it increases the risk of heart problems in the
future."
There are two main possible mechanisms that could explain how heavy
drinking might be damaging the heart, Iakunchykova said in an email.
"The first one is related to increases in blood pressure due to
heavy alcohol use," Iakunchykova said. "In turn, (high) blood
pressure damages the structure and function of the heart. Second,
alcohol can directly affect heart muscle by causing changes in its
cell metabolism."
To take a closer look at the impact of heavy drinking, Iakunchykova
and colleagues recruited 2,479 adults from northwest Russia as well
as 278 patients being treated in a clinic for alcohol abuse.
The researchers grouped the 2,479 community-dwelling volunteers aged
35 to 69 into four categories related to alcohol consumption levels:
harmful drinkers, hazardous drinkers, non-problem drinkers and
nondrinkers. They determined categories based on volunteers'
self-reported drinking habits.
Overall, volunteers fell into the category of harmful or heavy
drinking if they reported behaviors such as: having six more drinks
on one occasion, feeling hungover or drunk, needing a first drink in
the morning, having experienced adverse consequences in their
personal lives because of drinking, or having a family member or
loved one who is concerned about their drinking.
The difference between harmful and hazardous drinkers depended on
the answers to three questionnaires. Volunteers found to have a
dangerous drinking problem on two of three questionnaires were
categorized as harmful drinkers, as compared to those identified on
all three questionnaires, who were categorized as hazardous
drinkers.
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At the beginning of the study, participants' blood was tested for
levels of three biomarkers that have been associated with heart
damage: high sensitivity cardiac troponin T, a sign of heart muscle
injury; NT-proBNP, a marker of heart-wall stretch that is associated
with heart failure; and high sensitivity C-reactive protein, a
measure of inflammation that is linked with atherosclerosis.
Volunteers being treated in the clinic for alcohol abuse had the
highest levels of all three biomarkers. Compared to non-problem
drinkers in the general population, their high sensitivity cardiac
troponin T was elevated by 10.3%, NT-proBNP by 46.7% and hsCRP by
69.2%.
In the community dwelling population, NT-proBNP was 31.5% higher
among harmful drinkers compared with non-problem drinkers. And
overall, NT-proBNP and hsCRP rose with increasing intensity of
alcohol consumption.
When the researchers looked at former drinkers and never-drinkers
separately, the results didn't change. The same was true when they
excluded people with a history of heart attack from the analysis.
Still, the researchers note, one limitation of the study is their
inability to account for the effects of smoking. The study also
looked at a single point in time and was not designed to prove cause
and effect.
In addition, the new study has a major weakness, said Dr. David
Brown, a professor of medicine at the Washington University School
of Medicine, in Saint Louis, Missouri, who was not involved in the
new research.
Drawing conclusions from measurements of biomarkers, without knowing
patients' actual outcomes, like whether they went on to have heart
attacks or heart failure, is difficult, he explained in an email.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2MIG18n Journal of the American Heart
Association, online December 18, 2019.
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