Smoking May Cancel Stroke Benefit of Drinking - from MedPage Today

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today

Moderate drinking may protect against stroke, but not if the drinker is also a smoker.

An analysis of stroke incidence in a long-running cohort study showed that both nondrinkers and heavier drinkers were at higher risk than moderate drinkers, according to Yangmei Li, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University.

That effect -- known as a U-shaped curve -- has been seen in some studies but not in others, Li told reporters at the annual meeting here of the American Academy of Neurology.

The reason, she said, may be the impact of smoking.

She and colleagues looked at data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (Norfolk) study, which also included information on cardiovascular outcomes.

Volunteers ages 39 through 79 began taking part in the study between 1993 and 1997. At baseline, they were free of heart attack, stroke, and cancer and were followed up for incident stroke until 2008.

All told, the researchers looked at the relationship between alcohol and stroke in 10,171 men and 12,353 women.

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