Heart rhythm disturbances due to too much alcohol, even in young people

Alcohol is a cellular poison – and can damage different organs. The heart can also suffer the consequences, even in young people who are in great shape. This is what a new Munich study shows.

Scientists have long warned that excessive alcohol consumption can be harmful to the heart. A new study from Munich now shows that excessive alcohol consumption can also have a worrying effect on the hearts of healthy young people. Cardiac arrhythmias were discovered in several partygoers.

“Clinically significant arrhythmias occurred in more than five percent of otherwise healthy participants, mainly during the recovery phase,” summarizes Moritz Sinner, from the research team at the Medical and Polyclinic I of the “LMU Klinikum”, presenting the results. “From a cardiological perspective, our study provides another negative health effect of acute excessive alcohol consumption.”

Researchers evaluated data from more than 200 young men and women who regularly go out to consume multiple alcoholic beverages. During the study, they had peak blood alcohol levels of up to 2.5 per thousand. The results of the MunichBREW-II study were published in the specialist journal “European Heart Journal”.

The study participants’ heart rates were monitored for 48 hours using an ECG. In particular, the researchers distinguished between the initial value before drinking, the consumption phase and the recovery phase. There were also two control phases. Intake of alcohol during the drinking phase resulted in an increasingly rapid pulse rate, at over 100 beats per minute.

Uncertainty about long-term risks

It appears that alcohol may intervene profoundly in cardiac processes, the researchers conclude. The long-term harmful effects of alcohol-induced arrhythmia on heart health are the subject of further research.

Already in 2015, the team from the Medical Clinic and Polyclinic I of the LMU Hospital launched the MunichBREW-I study during the Munich Oktoberfest. At the time, doctors around Sinner and Stefan Brunner had already established a link between excessive alcohol consumption and heart rhythm disturbances, but they had only studied a snapshot of the electrocardiogram (ECG).

Other research also demonstrates negative effects on the heart. A study published a few years ago by the University Cardiovascular Center of the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) demonstrated that even small amounts of alcohol consumed regularly can trigger atrial fibrillation – even in healthy people. health without medical history.

dpa