NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Boston researchers say binge drinking, even if done just occasionally, nearly doubles a person's risk of dying after a heart attack.
The study, which was described this week at a New Orleans medical conference, began with the collection of data from 1,835 patients in the hospital after their heart attacks.
The amount and frequency of alcohol consumption in the year prior to their heart attacks was obtained from patient records and interviews. The researchers asked the heart attack survivors how often they consumed three or more drinks within one to two hours -- the study defined this as binge drinking.
Binge drinkers had a 73 percent higher death rate after their heart attacks compared to non-binging patients in the study. Survivors who binged during the year prior to their heart attack were 1.91 times more likely than those who drank moderately to die of any cause -- not just cardiovascular disease -- in the next several years, said lead author Kenneth J. Mukamal of Harvard Medical School and an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The risk associated with binge drinking appeared similar, whether the person binged on beer, wine, liquor or a combination of alcoholic beverages.
