CHICAGO, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that people over age 65 who are newly diagnosed with heart failure can continue to drink moderate amounts of alcohol without worsening their condition.
The researchers analyzed data from a past study called the Cardiovascular Health Study, conducted from 1989 to 1993. It included 5,888 adults on Medicare. Of these, 393 patients developed heart failure during the nine-year follow-up period.
With an average age of 79, slightly more than half of the heart failure patients were women, and 86 percent were white. The patients were divided into four categories for the analysis: people who never drank, people who drank in the past and stopped, people who had seven or fewer drinks per week, and people who had eight or more drinks per week. The researchers defined one serving of alcohol as a 12-ounce beer, a 6-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor.
After controlling for the variables including age, sex, race, education level, income, smoking status, blood pressure and other factors, the researchers found an association between consuming seven or fewer drinks per week and an extended survival of just over one year, compared with the long-term abstainers.
The extended survival came to an average of 383 days and ranged from 17 to 748 days. The greatest benefit seems to be derived from drinking 10 drinks per week, but so few patients fell into that category that the data were insufficient to draw definite conclusions.
"People who develop heart failure at an older age and never drank shouldn't start drinking," said senior author and cardiologist David L. Brown, a professor of medicine at the university.
"But our study suggests people who have had a daily drink or two before their diagnosis of heart failure can continue to do so without concern that it's causing harm," Brown said, adding that decision should always be made in consultation with doctors.
The study was published on Dec. 28 in JAMA Network Open.
