Stroke risk high in the ‘(un)happy hours’

Ready for a mug of beer after a hectic day? Better don’t. The new studies by Stroke indicates that your risk of having a stroke doubles in the hour after having a drink – be it beer, wine or liquor.

It’s believed that low to moderate alcohol consumption is good for health, as it’s shown to reduce the risk of cardiopathies and stroke itself, but the new researches shed light on the downside of it. “An increase in the stroke risk was observed after consuming an alcoholic beverage, but that, however, goes away within 24 hours or so” says Murray Mittleman of Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The alcohol’s property of raising the blood pressure or affecting the clotting of blood may be the reason behind this, it is presumed, though nothing is conclusive. Both high blood pressure and abnormal blood clotting are linked to stroke.

“Most of these revert back to normal after a few hours, and may be responsible for higher stroke risk.” – Mittleman adds. “Moderate drinking, however, has it’s share of pros, like the increase of HDL cholesterol levels.

In the study, 390 subjects were interviewed by the researches after three days post having an Ischemic stroke, and about 100 subjects were said to have a drink within 24 hours of having the stroke, and 248 said they consumed alcohol within an year or so. Further, the stroke risk compared to non-alcoholics was about 2.3 times higher in the first hours succeeding the alcohol consumption, followed by an increased risk of 60% in the second hour, and then on, however, returned to normal.

This new study will not urge her to discourage moderate drinking, says Dr. Irene Katzan of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. “The research data is intriguing, but nevertheless, the general consensus is that moderate drinking is beneficial in reducing the risk of heart diseases and stroke, and that heavy drinking is deleterious, this study is not yet sufficient for changing that.”

“However, It should be further explored to know the phenomenon better, and only that should have an effect on our approach on moderate drinking.”

Let’s hope the researches lead by Dr. Mittleman, will find the answer to those in the study which will observe the effect of alcohol on stroke over a period of six months.