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(Stroke. 1995;26:40-45.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Recent Alcohol Consumption, Cigarette Smoking, and Cerebral Infarction in Young Adults

Presented in part at the First International Stroke Congress, Kyoto, Japan, October 15-19, 1989, and at the 20th International Congress of Internal Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden, June 17-21, 1990.

Matti Hillbom, MD; Helena Haapaniemi, MD; Seppo Juvela, MD; Heikki Palomäki, MD; Heikki Numminen, MD Markku Kaste, MD

From the Departments of Neurology (H.P., M.K.) and Neurosurgery (S.J.), Helsinki University Hospital, and the Department of Neurology (M.H., H.H., H.N., Oulu University Hospital, Finland.

Background and Purpose The role of recent heavy drinking of alcohol as a risk factor for ischemic brain infarction is unclear. We investigated this problem in young adults, in whom even a thorough workup often fails to reveal any predisposing factor.

Methods This was a hospital-based case-control study comprising 75 consecutive subjects aged 16 to 40 years with first-ever ischemic brain infarction and 133 control subjects from the same hospital who were group-matched with the case patients for age, sex, day of the onset of symptoms, and acuteness of disease onset.

Results Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that alcohol intake exceeding 40 g of ethanol within the 24 hours preceding disease onset was a significant independent risk factor for brain infarction among both men (odds ratio [OR], 6.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8 to 20.3) and women (OR, 7.8; 95% CI, 1.0 to 60.8). Cigarette smoking was not found to be an independent risk factor in the model, whereas among men arterial hypertension was (OR, 6.2; 95% CI, 1.5 to 24.7).

Conclusions We conclude that very recent alcohol drinking, particularly drinking for intoxication, may trigger the onset of brain infarction in young adults and that there might be a variety of mechanisms behind this effect.

Key Words: alcohol drinking • cerebral infarction • cigarette smoking • risk factors • young adults

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