Binge-drinking linked to arrhythmias in young adults up to 48 hours later: study
Associations between excessive alcohol intake and ventricular arrhythmias may be 'underestimated', say researchers.
Binge-drinking can cause atrial tachycardia during alcohol consumption and clinically relevant arrhythmia for many hours afterwards, a German study suggests.
The study of around 200 drinkers (mean age 29) found that the average heart rate rose from 89bpm in the first hour of drinking to a peak of 97bpm by the fourth hour.
In the 48 hours after binge-drinking, arrhythmias affected 5.2% of the participants, said researchers from LMU University Hospital in Munich.
“Given our young cohort age and the short, exposure-focused follow-up, this incidence is far exceeding the expected population incidence,” they wrote in the European Heart Journal.
