alcoholic drinks. Image by Tim Sandle.

People who drink multiple alcoholic drinks a day may be at increased risk of coronary heart disease, according to a major study. This risk is greater for women than for men.

The study, published by the American College of Cardiology, found that young to middle-aged women who drank eight or more alcoholic drinks per week were significantly more likely to develop coronary heart disease than women who drank less. This became concretely clear.

The risk increases for people who engage in episodic heavy drinking, or “binge drinking.” This may be why heart attacks and other heart diseases are on the rise among young people in the United States.

Researchers used data from more than 430,000 people treated at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Integrative Medicine. The cohort consisted of 243,000 men and 189,000 women. Participants had an average age of 44 years and had no heart disease at the start of the study.

Information about participants’ alcohol consumption was collected during primary care visits using the health organization’s standard “Alcohol as a Vital Sign” screening initiative.

The researchers evaluated the relationship between participants’ reported alcohol intake at their 2014-2015 regular assessment and their diagnosis of coronary heart disease over the subsequent four years.

Based on self-report ratings, scientists categorized participants’ overall alcohol intake as follows:

• Low (defined as 1-2 drinks per week for both men and women).
• Moderate (3-14 drinks per week for men, 3-7 drinks per week for women).
• High (15 or more drinks per week for men, 8 or more drinks per week for women).

The researchers categorized each participant into whether or not they binge-drink or binge-eat.

Overall, 3,108 study participants were diagnosed with coronary heart disease during the 4-year follow-up period, and the incidence of coronary heart disease increased as alcohol intake increased.

For women, those who reported high alcohol intake had a 45% higher risk of heart disease than those who reported low alcohol intake, and a lower risk than those who reported moderate alcohol intake. It was 29% higher.

The difference was greatest among individuals in the binge drinking category. Women in this category were 68 percent more likely to develop heart disease compared to women who reported moderate intake. Men with high overall intakes were 33 percent more likely to develop heart disease compared to men with moderate intakes.