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Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Alcohol and long-term prognosis after a first acute myocardial infarction: the SHEEP study
European Heart Journal 2008 29(1):45-53



Few studies have investigated the relation between alcohol consumption, former drinking, and prognosis after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), particularly for non-fatal outcomes.

To investigate the prognostic importance of drinking habits among patients surviving a first AMI.

We recorded 267 deaths, and 145 deaths from cardiac causes, during the follow-up period. After adjustment for several potential confounders, hazard ratios for total and cardiac mortality were 0.77 and 0.61 for those drinking >0–<5> those drinking over 20 g per day.

Risk of hospitalization for recurrent non-fatal AMI, stroke, or heart failure generally showed a similar pattern to that of total and cardiac mortality.

Recent quitters at the time of AMI had a hazard ratio of 4.55 for total mortality. Measures of insulin sensitivity appeared to be the strongest mediators of this association.

Moderate alcohol drinking might have beneficial effects on several aspects of long-term prognosis after an AMI. Our findings also highlight that former drinkers should be examined separately from long-term abstainers. The potential mechanisms that underlie this association still need to be elucidated.


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