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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Among Older Drinkers, Social Factors Can Both Predict And Sustain Alcohol Misuse

from Medical News Today

Social factors have consistently been implicated as a cause of vulnerability to alcohol use and abuse. The reverse is also true, in that individuals who engage in excessive drinking may alter their social context. New research on drinking among older adults has found that older adults who have more money, engage in more social activities, and whose friends approve more of drinking are more likely to engage in excessive or high-risk drinking.

Results will be published in the April 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

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• Too Much Alcohol Impairs Seniors' Thinking (nlm.nih.gov)

Survey Finds Binge Drinking Among Older People, Too - Forbes.com

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(HealthDay News) -- Binge drinking isn't just a problem of young people, researchers say. In a nationwide survey of people 50 to 64 years old, nearly a quarter of the men and nine percent of the women told Duke University researchers they had engaged in binge drinking in the previous 30 days. Defined as five or more alcoholic drinks in a short time, binge drinking is considered extremely risky behavior, and its dangers increase with age. The survey also found that 14 percent of men and three percent of women 65 and older reported binge drinking in the previous month. Read More