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Population-level analyses of alcohol consumption as a predictor of acute atrial fibrillation episodes

Nature Cardiovascular Research volume 1, pages 23–27 (2022)Cite this article

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Studying short-term relationships between acute alcohol consumption and discrete atrial fibrillation (AF) episodes has proven difficult given the need for AF assessments shortly after acute and excessive drinking1,2,3,4. Here, we analyzed breathalyzer data and identified eight recurrent and nationally recognized events associated with increased alcohol consumption. Using these events as instrumental variables, we analyzed data from emergency department (ED) visits for AF in California. Using multivariable adjusted Poisson regression models to compare rates of AF and new-onset AF during and 6 d after instrumental variable events compared with all other days of the year, alcohol consumption inferred from these events was associated with a statistically significant increase in ED visits for AF and for new-onset AF. Our data suggest that acute alcohol consumption in the general population is associated with a higher risk of discrete AF episodes as well as for new-onset (incident) AF.

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Fig. 1: Number of participants with at least one breathalyzer use (left) and median BAC levels (right) of instrumental variable events between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2016.

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Investigators interested in using OSHPD data can apply at https://oshpd.ca.gov/data-and-reports/request-data. These administrative data are publicly available through the established processes of the OSHPD.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Eric Vittinghoff

  2. Division of Cardiology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sidney Aung, Gregory Nah & Gregory M. Marcus

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Christopher A. Groh

  4. School of Medicine, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Christina D. Fang

Authors
  1. Sidney Aung
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  2. Gregory Nah
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  4. Christopher A. Groh
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  5. Christina D. Fang
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  6. Gregory M. Marcus
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Contributions

S.A., C.A.G., C.D.F. and G.M.M. conceived and designed the study. S.A., E.V., G.N. and G.M.M. performed data analysis and statistical analysis. S.A. and G.M.M. wrote the first manuscript draft. Critical revision, editing and approval of the final manuscript was carried out by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory M. Marcus.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review information

Nature Cardiovascular Research thanks Abhishek Deshmukh, Ben Freedman and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Table 1 List of all candidate dates identified empirically from BACtrack prior to being categorized as recurrent, nationally-recognized events
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 List of calendar years for which recurrent, nationally-recognized events were empirically identified through either device-use or blood alcohol content selection methods from BACtrack
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 International Classification of Disease-9th Edition (ICD-9) code identification
Full size table

Supplementary information

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data for Fig. 1.

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Aung, S., Nah, G., Vittinghoff, E. et al. Population-level analyses of alcohol consumption as a predictor of acute atrial fibrillation episodes. Nat Cardiovasc Res 1, 23–27 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-021-00003-7

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