Abusing alcohol at the weekend doubles the risk of dying from cardiac arrest compared to daily consumption, according to a comparative study carried out in France and Northern Ireland and published by the magazineBritish Medical Journal(BMJ).
The rate of cases ofacute coronary insufficiency(myocardial infarction and coronary death) istwice as high in Belfast (capital of Northern Ireland) than in France. To identify the cause, researchers from the University of Toulouse followed nearly a thousand men from three French cities (Lille, Strasbourg, Toulouse) and Belfast, between 50 and 59 years old and free from heart disease, for ten years. time of launching the study in 1991.
Comparing their consumption habits, the scientists found thatthe volume of alcohol consumed weekly was practically identical in both countries. However, the modes of consumption were radically different in the two countries:in Belfast, alcohol consumption was more concentrated on one day of the weekend(Saturday), while in France consumption was distributed more evenly over the whole of the week.
The prevalence of binge drinking, defined in the study as binge drinking (ie four or five glasses of wine) on a single occasion, was almost 20 times higher in Belfast than in France (9.4% of men in Belfast versus 0.5% in France). In parallel, the annual incidence of coronary deaths almost doubled in Belfast (5.63 for 1,000) compared to France (2.78). “Consuming large amounts of alcohol once or twice increases coronary mortality, but consumeregularly cameresultheart protector“, indicates Jean Ferrières, co-author of the study.
In Belfast, men drank mainly beer (75.5%), followed by spirits (61.3%), wine being little consumed (27.4%). In contrast, in France, wine consumption predominated (91.8%). “Wine consumption reflects different life behaviors compared to beer and is associated with other cardiovascular protective factors, such as diet,” Ferrières stressed.
