Alcohol addiction can severely increase risk of heart failure

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New Delhi: Alcohol addiction can increase the risk of heart attack, atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure along with other risk factors like diabetes and high blood pressure, a new study revealed. 

And doctors believe that thousands of heart failures and heart risks can be avoided in a year worldwide if 'alcohol abuse' is completely eradicated. 

'Alcohol abuse' is habitual excessive consumption of alcohol by a person. 

The researchers found that alcohol abuse was associated with a doubled risk of irregular heartbeat, a 1.4-fold increased risk of heart attack and a 2.3-fold increased risk of heart failure.

A heart attack is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot.

Lead researcher Gregory M. Marcus, Director at the University of California, San Francisco says, "We found that even if you have no underlying risk factors, abuse of alcohol still increases the risk of these heart conditions."

Completely eradicating alcohol abuse would result in over 73,000 fewer atrial fibrillation cases, 34,000 fewer heart attacks, and 91,000 fewer patients with congestive heart failure in the US alone, the researchers noted. 

For the study, the team analysed 14.7 million patients from California aged 21 and older who received ambulatory surgery, emergency or inpatient medical care. 

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.