A single glass of alcohol can rapidly increase the risk of experiencing atrial fibrillation in people with a history of the heart rhythm condition, according to a study published Aug. 31 in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers closely monitored the alcohol intake and cardiac rhythms of 100 people with a history of atrial fibrillation for four weeks. Seventy-nine percent of study participants were men, and 85 percent were white.
In total, 56 participants had at least one atrial fibrillation episode during the study period. Researchers found one alcoholic drink was associated with a twofold higher chance of experiencing an abnormal heart rhythm. These odds increased threefold for those who had at least two drinks in the preceding four hours.
Physicians have long suspected a link between alcohol and atrial fibrillation, but lacked definitive evidence to confirm the association, according to The New York Times. The new study is one of the most rigorous to date and suggests that people with a history of atrial fibrillation could lower their chances of experiencing abnormal heart rhythms by limiting or avoiding alcohol.
The findings also suggest that alcohol could potentially disrupt heart functions in some people without a history of heart issues, according to the Times.
"This demonstrates that whenever we consume alcohol, it is presumably having a nearly immediate effect on the electrical workings of our hearts," study author Gregory Marcus, MD, a professor of medicine in the cardiology division at the University of California, San Francisco, told the publication. "Despite the conventional wisdom that alcohol is healthy for the heart, these data add to others that too much alcohol is almost certainly harmful to the heart."
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