Alcohol Consumption and Elderly
Moderate drinking places a cardiovascular risk to older people, research says.
The older cohort of the world's population, especially women, is at higher risk for having cardiovascular diseases due to alcohol consumption, as per CBS News.
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School principal investigator Dr. Alexandra Goncalves conducted a study on the relationship between alcohol and the cardiovascular system in the elderly.
The trial had more than 4,000 participants from the elderly population and the average age is 76. As per Goncalves, the result showed that increased alcohol intake is linked with delicate changes in the anatomy and physiology of the heart in the aging population.
Moreover, the results also revealed a decline in the cardiovascular function in elderly women who consumed alcohol in moderation or daily. Heavy alcohol consumption was associated to left ventricular hypertrophy, or the enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart, in men who consumed more than 14 drinks in one week.
While alcohol consumption pose risks in the cardiovascular structure and function, some studies suggest that alcohol consumption also has some benefits, as per American Heart Association's journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Harvard Medical School Professor of Medicine Dr. Scott Solomon said that light to moderate consumption of alcohol do not predispose the elderly to a possibility of having heart failure.
In contrast to the adverse effects of alcohol drinking, drinking alcohol moderately can even be protective to the cardiovascular system, according to Solomon.
Though low alcohol intake is linked with potential benefits, increased alcohol consumption still has possible hazards to cardiac structure and function. Thus, Goncalves recommends that people who drink alcohol should do it in moderation.
