This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gorelick, P. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gorelick, P. B.

Stroke, Vol 18, 268-271, Copyright © 1987 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Alcohol and stroke

PB Gorelick

Alcohol might contribute to stroke in several ways: induction of cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac wall motion abnormalities which predispose to cerebral embolism, induction of hypertension, enhancement of platelet aggregation and activation of the clotting cascade, and reduction of cerebral blood flow by stimulation of cerebral vascular smooth muscle contraction or by altering cerebral metabolism. While these pathophysiological mechanisms have gained enthusiastic experimental and theoretical support, the findings are preliminary and will require further large-scale clinical and epidemiological analyses to substantiate their roles as causal factors or potentiators of stroke. Documentation of measurable platelet and coagulation cascade abnormalities reported in healthy volunteers who have ingested alcohol will need to be confirmed on a broader scale in stroke patients with recent ethanol consumption. The risk of stroke in those with alcohol- induced atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy must be ascertained for the general population. While the experimental evidence is exciting and provocative, epidemiological evidence also suggests a link between alcohol consumption and stroke. Regular alcohol ingestion is associated with hypertension, fatal and nonfatal intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, and increased risk of death from stroke. Recent, less stringently controlled studies suggest that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for cerebral infarction in young adults with occasional ethanol intoxication and middle-aged women and young men with occasional alcohol intoxication and regular heavy drinking. Alcohol may also be a risk factor for subarachnoid hemorrhage.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Ding, M. L. Eigenbrodt, T. H. Mosley Jr, R. G. Hutchinson, A. R. Folsom, T. B. Harris, and F. J. Nieto Alcohol Intake and Cerebral Abnormalities on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Community-Based Population of Middle-Aged Adults: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study Stroke, January 1, 2004; 35(1): 16 - 21. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Sun, K. P. Patel, and W. G. Mayhan Tetrahydrobiopterin, a cofactor for NOS, improves endothelial dysfunction during chronic alcohol consumption Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, November 1, 2001; 281(5): H1863 - H1869. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. I. Qureshi, S. Tuhrim, J. P. Broderick, H. H. Batjer, H. Hondo, and D. F. Hanley Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage N. Engl. J. Med., May 10, 2001; 344(19): 1450 - 1460. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M Oishi, Y Mochizuki, and T Takasu Cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular response to acetazolamide in patients with chronic alcoholism J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, July 1, 1997; 63(1): 100 - 102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. H. Zhang, S. Sasaki, and H. Kesteloot Changes in the Sex Ratio of Stroke Mortality in the Period of 1955 Through 1990 Stroke, October 1, 1995; 26(10): 1774 - 1780. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				S. Sasaki, X.-H. Zhang, and H. Kesteloot Dietary Sodium, Potassium, Saturated Fat, Alcohol, and Stroke Mortality Stroke, May 1, 1995; 26(5): 783 - 789. [Abstract] [Full Text]